Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center
  • 0

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


fasteddie

Question

  • Answers 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Recommended Posts

19 minutes ago, fasteddie said:

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.

The question was about rock guitar, not rock & roll.  And that's not Elvis' guitar playing you're hearing.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as what made me take up music/guitar...

I got the band idea from The Archies (and their spinoff) Josie and the Pussycats, The Banana Splits, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, Brady Bunch, even Scooby Doo had a band! But, instead of wanting to play guitar my first instrument was trumpet starting in the 3rd grade. It was a fairly popular instrument in pop music back then.

Our family was pretty cool as we listened to more modern pop stuff than my friend's families. Steve Miller Band, CSNY, Tony Orlando and Dawn... just stuff that was all over the radio back then.  

Then my step brother came to visit for a week while on liberty from the Navy. He had a portable Craig cassette player that were all the rage back then and he BLEW my pop loving mind with Deep Purple- Machine Head!  I just didn't know what to think of it!! I then started gravitating to some harder sounding stuff like Edgar Winter Group Frankenstein, then Aerosmith etc. Then I bought  Kiss Alive! and the whole guitar thing started. Then I got into Disco (?!!!) some and even DJ'd a party or two in my neighborhood as a kid. Later in high school I traded a soul album for Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight and that turned me into an all out rocker and life long Hamer fan!! 

So, for rock guitar, it was Kiss and Cheap Trick mainly. But, I'm one to believe we are influenced by most all of our experiences so even watching Buck Owens and Roy Clark on Hee Haw was part of the equation too. 

The "who did the most for rock guitar" has basically been covered overall, but for me these guys really opened my eyes and became influences in one way or another; Jimmy Lyons - guitarist for Eddie Money, my first solo I learned completely was "2 tickets to Paradise", EVH, Neil Schon, Neil Geraldo, Steve Lukather, Michael Schenker,  Yngwie, Randy Rhoads, Steve Morse, John Petrucci... you get the picture...

 

Who wouldn't want to be in a band with Betty AND Veronica?!!

0031-The-Archies-720x720.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ZR said:

As far as what made me take up music/guitar...

I got the band idea from The Archies (and their spinoff) Josie and the Pussycats, The Banana Splits, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, Brady Bunch, even Scooby Doo had a band! But, instead of wanting to play guitar my first instrument was trumpet starting in the 3rd grade. It was a fairly popular instrument in pop music back then.

Our family was pretty cool as we listened to more modern pop stuff than my friend's families. Steve Miller Band, CSNY, Tony Orlando and Dawn... just stuff that was all over the radio back then.  

Then my step brother came to visit for a week while on liberty from the Navy. He had a portable Craig cassette player that were all the rage back then and he BLEW my pop loving mind with Deep Purple- Machine Head!  I just didn't know what to think of it!! I then started gravitating to some harder sounding stuff like Edgar Winter Group Frankenstein, then Aerosmith etc. Then I bought  Kiss Alive! and the whole guitar thing started. Then I got into Disco (?!!!) some and even DJ'd a party or two in my neighborhood as a kid. Later in high school I traded a soul album for Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight and that turned me into an all out rocker and life long Hamer fan!! 

So, for rock guitar, it was Kiss and Cheap Trick mainly. But, I'm one to believe we are influenced by most all of our experiences so even watching Buck Owens and Roy Clark on Hee Haw was part of the equation too. 

The "who did the most for rock guitar" has basically been covered overall, but for me these guys really opened my eyes and became influences in one way or another; Jimmy Lyons - guitarist for Eddie Money, my first solo I learned completely was "2 tickets to Paradise", EVH, Neil Schon, Neil Geraldo, Steve Lukather, Michael Schenker,  Yngwie, Randy Rhoads, Steve Morse, John Petrucci... you get the picture...

 

Who wouldn't want to be in a band with Betty AND Veronica?!!

0031-The-Archies-720x720.jpg

It was not a BAND I wanted to be in with the two of them.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

Keep thinking that buddy. Research your "most historians" thing. Even a quick "google" of The First Rock Song Ever" will result in "most historians crediting..." 1951's Rocket '88 with being the "First" Rock'n'Roll song. First recorded by Ike Turner and his band with Jackie Brenston,  then covered in 1952 by Bill Haley and the Comets who also recorded Crazy Man Crazy in 1953, and it was this song that is notable as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical charts, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Charts, in 1953. Bill Haley and the comets went on to record Rock Around the Clock in 1954 reaching #1 on both U.S. AND UK Charts already having fame prior to Elvis.

Um, thank you, thank you very much.

Now, back to the topic of "who did most for rock guitar", not who invented rock'n'roll.

As stated before, @kizanski nailed it with Chuck Berry.

Here's Crazy Man Crazy from 1953, Danny Cedrone tears it up at 1:05

 

No no no dude. Rocket 88??? Is 12 bar blues/boogie woogie, how anyone can think that is comparable to Thats alright Mama and a true sense of the word Rock is not understanding the "flavour" of rock and roll. Listen to both tracks back to back and then tell the forum which is more applicable regarding rock music. And that nonesense by Bill Haley is just silly, its not rock and roll just finally Rolling Stone magazine also state (not that we are needing their endorsement) that Thats Alright was the first Rock n Roll song...its Elvis not Ikey boy.

I've now left the building.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...and Chuck Berry was very much influenced by T-Bone Walker. The guitar riffs, the stage moves... all T-Bone. T-Bone just never crossed over into the rock/pop world the way Chuck did. You can hear a lot of Walker's style in Jimmy Page's playing, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@kizanski was correct about Berry.

For me personally? I guess when I saw a photo of Jimmy Page in his embroidered suit, Les Paul down low, and Robert Plant, holding a mic and leaning back at him, both long-haired and shirtless, I figured they were the coolest mofos on earth. I didn't care if he was mostly (at least at first) playing loud sloppy blues. What frustrated 13-year-old sees this and doesn't decide that's a better life than poppin' pimples and doing homework?

drawn-singer-jimmy-page-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, polara said:

@kizanski was correct about Berry.

For me personally? I guess when I saw a photo of Jimmy Page in his embroidered suit, Les Paul down low, and Robert Plant, holding a mic and leaning back at him, both long-haired and shirtless, I figured they were the coolest mofos on earth. I didn't care if he was mostly (at least at first) playing loud sloppy blues. What frustrated 13-year-old sees this and doesn't decide that's a better life than poppin' pimples and doing homework?

drawn-singer-jimmy-page-1.jpg

I have to say I never popped pimples...I've always had lovely skin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The autobiographical question is the easy one to answer because one's personal influencs can't really be disputed. In my case, Eddie made me pick up the guitar.

As far as the first question goes, that'll be debated till the end of time. For the record, I was a big Chuck Berry fan before ever picking up the guitar, but Chuck, in my opinion, probably did more for the "guitar hero" image than for originating rock guitar. I suggest this because he was, in my opinion, the first flashy guitarist to really make guitar-slinging cool. He was a guitar performer, not just a player. However, the guitar solo in Rock Around The Clock had more of an impact on me guitar-wise than any solo Chuck Berry ever played. 

I'll also say that how one answers either question may largely depend on one's age and what was spinning on the turntable during one's impressionable years. For my generation, the electric guitar world changed forever as soon as Eruption was laid down on vinyl. Very few single guitar recordings, I suspect, had as much impact as the appearance of that single track, regardless of what one thinks of it today. And the thing is, while I've heard more amazing guitar playing since (much better or more technically challenging than Eruption), they all seem to have the "been there, done that" stigma. It's as if every sound that can be squeezed out of a guitar has been done, so I'm not sure if there's anything left to "wow" us in a novel way. Nowadays, anything that elicits a "wow" from me has more to do with technical prowess or just enjoying someone's musicality, but not because of anything truly different of an impactful nature... Or maybe it's just that I'm older and past my impressionable years. The thing about youth is that everything is new and capable of making that lasting impression. Lucky little turds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Mike Mcready started to get me there, but it was too hard to pull off for a beginner. I still haven’t circled back there yet as much as I should. 

Not that he is or even was a guitar hero to me (I don’t have one. I like a select few guitarists for their own things, but no hero), but Kurt Cobain paved the way for me. 

I did fiddle a bit with my moms old sears guitar, but wasn’t until I heard Nevermind that I felt I could play it. I was right, mostly. :) Learning the importance of timing and proper strumming patterns and all the rest still takes time and practice, no matter how simple the song is. 

But then moved on to Billy Corgan and a billion ways elsewhere since. None mastered. 

As for the big question, I’ll leave that to y’all. Many, many people have had a huge impact on rock guitar over time. To limit it is to deny its evolution. To quantify the amount of their impact could be different for each individual and what they value, not to mention what they consider “rock” guitar. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/2/2018 at 1:45 PM, fasteddie said:

Jimi. Jimmy. Richie. Eddie.

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

Jimmy, er, Jimmie. Jimmie Dodd, that is. :D

2nd_Season_Doddism.jpg

Not a hard rocker, but he did introduce the guitar to a generation of Baby Boomers, and that's a lot of people. There were around 40 million boomers in the US when the Mickey Mouse Club debuted in 1955. 

When the Beatles hit the US in the winter of '63/'64, we knew what a guitar was, and the Beatles' guitars looked and sounded so cool!

beatlessullivan.jpg

I was in fifth grade when The Beatles had their first hits and appeared on Ed Sullivan. Within a few months I knew dozens of 10-12 year olds who had a guitar, bass guitar, or a drum set. I got my first drum set the following Christmas (1964) and I had friends who had guitars and we even played for an assembly at grade school that year.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was Cliff Richard in his heyday in the early '60s. He was the third best-selling rock/pop artist in the UK with only Elvis and the Beatles ahead of him. He's nearly unknown in the US.

ep-cliff-richard.jpg

Richard had a backup band called The Shadows:

31f32hank3-479385.jpg

Their leader was Hank Marvin, the geeky-looking guy in front with the glasses, and The Shadows' lead guitarist. Why am I telling you this? Because Hank Marvin was Jeff Beck's primary inspiration. Hank Marvin invented that shimmery sound by picking while he held the vibrato bar in his hand, which also became one of Jeff Beck's signature sounds:

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/8/2018 at 11:14 PM, fasteddie said:

No no no dude. Rocket 88??? Is 12 bar blues/boogie woogie, how anyone can think that is comparable to Thats alright Mama and a true sense of the word Rock is not understanding the "flavour" of rock and roll.

There are many influences on rock as we know it now, but it was "rock'n'roll" for many years before it became "rock." Rock'n'roll has that swing and shuffle of so many songs from that time, including Rocket 88.

Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were both major rock'n'roll figures, but their piano styles were based on boogie woogie. No one ever accused them of not being rock 'n' roll. 

As for 12 bar blues, that was also a really strong influence on rock, especially British rock. The Beatles kicked off the British Invasion, but they were originally a skiffle-based group. Most of the follow-up British bands were influenced by Delta blues from when Chess Records mounted a highly influential tour for their artists (e.g., Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, etc.) in England. The Rolling Stones named themselves after Muddy Waters' signature song. They also covered the Howlin' Wolf song, "The Red Rooster" (aka Little Red Rooster). The Moody Blues and Pink Floyd were blues bands before they went psychedelic. The list goes on and on.

So influential was that Chess Records tour that the British kids scoured the pawn shops to find the instruments and amps that the Chess artists played, which is why they soon showed up with Les Pauls playing through tweed Fender Bassman amps.

As for James Marshall and his amps, he pretty much copied the Bassman circuit for his first Marshall amp, swapping in readily available European parts such as Celestion Greenbacks for Fender speakers and EL34 output tubes for 6L6GCs. These changes helped shape the "British sound."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/8/2018 at 1:55 PM, ZR said:

Who wouldn't want to be in Betty AND Veronica?!!

 0031-The-Archies-720x720.jpg

FIFY

 

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rory Gallagher (Taste Live At The Isle of Wright) and Mick Taylor (Sticky Fingers / Get Yer Ya Yas Out) made me wanting to play guitar. And then came many other inspirations...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Who dids~

1st. Chuck Berry.He was the first to bring guitar upfront, more than just a prop.

Jimi Hendrix.He brought to the table nobody else did, could at the time. He set the bar, others loathed in fear.

Jimmy Page. He could play anything with strings on it, but when He strapped on a LP, game over. Used LP's sales on the rise(not known as vintage as of yet).

Plenty of others in that time period. Steve Marriott for an example as well as Leslie West, etc.

Ace Frehley. Simple yet effective. A lot of guitars were sold during the onslaught of, and easy to play off on.

Angus Young, Ac/Dc. Not much in sales, but, another in take up and play it.

Eddie Van Halen. Mr. Legos himself. He mainstreamed a cocktail of technique from past present future. Frank Marino was doing wiggle stick dive bombs tapping etc. years before.

Stevie Ray Vaghaun. The big Fender come back, Strats are back. Big sales.

Slash. HUGE sales for Gibson. Huge.

There are others. Plenty. But for dollars procured for manufacturers per note, these guys are , where tops.

Who made me take it up.

Ace. (Alive) the raw power of a Les Paul plugged into a cooking Marshal amp. That sound. The slanky ness. That did it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley. Because when I was six I did not know what a bass guitar was. I thought all three - Gene, Ace & Paul - played electric guitar. 

And Keef and Ron Wood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Kiz on Chuck Berry.

I was just a bit too young for the first wave of Beatles inspired players, but jumped in when I heard Leslie West, Richie Blackmore and Johnny Winter.  The California Jam was probably the event that pushed me hard to take up the guitar.  The moment Ritchie smashed the camera lens I was on board.  Then I saw Kiss on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and I was in deep.

I'll add one more under a new category: "Who saved Rock guitar from death at the hands of disco and keyboard pop?

Johnny F'n Ramone, that's who!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Armitage said:

Ace Frehley

Space Ace, nah bro. To say his name in the same sentence as giants like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen only THE most ardent KISS fan would consider that level and viable. 10 out of 10 for fan loyalty, but IMO that don't fly.

BTW you know where I can get Alive 2 on vinyl?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, fasteddie said:

BTW you know where I can get Alive 2 on vinyl?

2 LP remastered, repressed on 180g vinyl:

Used 1970s pressings:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...