# I need help.



## tudge (Jan 15, 2009)

I need a guitarist who has changed the way guitar is played, and 3 reasons how/why he/she did it.

I was thinking Bo Diddley but all I could find was his Bo Diddley beat.

Thanks!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what you mean by *"changed the way guitar is played"*
Is this an assignment for school or something?...just curious.

One of the "changes" that I feel is significant is the "discovery" of the blues and slide guitar. This is reported to have taken place at a train station in Mississippi when a young player was seen "sliding" the edge of a knfe on the strings and creating an unusual sound. The person who witnessed this and looked into it in more depth was W. C. Handy.

From an internet site: 
(you need to look into this further for a more complete understanding) 

_" and while the blues can claim many fathers, William Christopher Handy must certainly be considered among them. Born in Florence, Alabama, in 1873, W.C. Handy was by no means a Delta bluesman. He was a student of music as a child, playing the cornet, and later traveled the South with dance bands playing minstrel and tent shows. Handy had heard something akin to the blues as early as 1892, but it was while waiting for an overdue train in Tutwiler, Mississippi, in 1903 that he heard an itinerant bluesman playing slide guitar and singing about "goin' where the Southern cross the Dog," referring to the junction of the Southern and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads farther south near Moorhead. Handy called it "the weirdest music I had ever heard."_

Maybe this is not the kind of information you are searching for. I'm not sure.

I'll be very interested in what others have to say about your question. They will respond...believe me !!

Dave

P.S. I'm a blues fan and went to the train station in Tutwiler...gave me the shivers (good shivers)

Cheers

Dave


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## tudge (Jan 15, 2009)

Hey thanks!


I need three reasons though. 

I don't really know how to explain it. It is a school paper. He just said find a musician that changed the guitar world.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

tudge said:


> Hey thanks!
> 
> 
> I need three reasons though.
> ...


So, you're looking for us to do your assignment eh? I'll give you the name of a guitarist who changed the guitar world and you can do the work of figuring out who and why. Are you ready ?










Jimi Hendrix. :rockon2:




I'm sure a young whippersnapper like yourself knows how search the Internets for the relevant info. Make sure you credit me in your paper!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

tudge said:


> Hey thanks!
> 
> 
> I need three reasons though.
> ...


This is a different perspective completely. 

I'll let others voice their thoughts. 

I'm sorry.....my post is likely of no help to you.

Cheers

Dave


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## tudge (Jan 15, 2009)

bagpipe said:


> So, you're looking for us to do your assignment eh? I'll give you the name of a guitarist who changed the guitar world and you can do the work of figuring out who and why. Are you ready ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah I didn't want you to write it, just give me names. I can look it up on my own.


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## tudge (Jan 15, 2009)

greco said:


> This is a different perspective completely.
> 
> I'll let others voice their thoughts.
> 
> ...



Sorry about the clarity. Thanks for your opinion though!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Robert Johnson


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## eric_b (Dec 6, 2008)

Joseph Kekuku


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2009)

Les Paul
Chet Atkins
Stanley Jordan
Eddie Van Halen

The list...it can be long...


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

A few more:
Roy Buchanan
Danny Gatton
Wes Montgomery
Grant Green
Joe Pass
Jefff Beck
T Bone Walker
Buddy Guy
Doc Watson
Merle Travis
James Burton
John Mclaughlin

There a lifetime of listening right here, but there's to many more to name.

Cheers and good luck.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

I vote for Jimmie Wester. Some info can be found at http://www.bunker-guitars.com/touch_history.html


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

eric_b said:


> Joseph Kekuku


Good call.
A high probability nobody else would pick him, and what I've heard of him would make an interesting movie or documentary.

One of the unsung, these days anyway, heroes of guitar.


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## Pepper_Roni (May 29, 2008)

Tom morello maybe

watch this vid it shows his idea of guitar and how he plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg-nF8jG3Hc


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Joint first:
*Andres Segovia* (you said guitar, not rock, so this is the guy who invented modern guitar playing -- you culd go further back and go for Francisco Tarrega I guess or Antonio de Torres who actually developed the guitar from its primitive form)
*Jimi Hendrix*

also rans:
Augusti Barrios Mangore -- the first person ever to record a guitar
Lenny Breau
Wes Montgomery
Robert Fripp
Robert Johnson (Willie Brown, Son House, Lonnie Johnson)
Frank Zappa
Kurt Cobain (for better or worse)
Keith Richards
BB King
George Harrison
John Lennon
EVH
Eric Clapton
Elmore James 
Muddy Waters
Jeff Beck
Stone Gossard
Link Wray - pretty much invented the power chord w/o which where would rock be?
Charlie Christian
Carlos Santana
Billy Corgan
Steve Hackett
Les Paul -- he invented everything and is still playing
Chuck Berry
Steve Howe
Lonnie Johnson
Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine...not a guitar hero as such, but is the pinnacle of the indie fuzztone thing)
Chet Atkins
Ritchie Blackmore
Jimmy Page
Dave Gilmour
Marc Ribot
Ry Cooder
Woody Guthrie
Leslie West
Lou Reed
Steve Jones -- invented punk
Otis Rush
Albert King
The Edge
Bukka White 
Buddy Guy
Charlie Patton -- invented the delta blues (kinda)
Paul Kossoff
John Lee Hooker
Roy Buchanan
John McLaughlin 
Django Reinhardt -- Gypsy jazz
Grant Green
Joe Strummer
Pete Townshend
Tommy Bolin
Bob Marley
Danny Gatton
Charlie Burchill
I'd also argue a place for Thom Yorke, although he's way more than just a guitar player.


if you want unusual technique, but maybe not as wide-ranging an influence (yet):
Paul Galbraith
Stanley Jordan
Andy McKee
Erik Mongrain 



...just curious...do you know _anything_ about guitar music? Not trying to be a snark, but really ask just about any two guitar players and a long involved conversation is very likely to ensue long into the night that will get quite involved. What is the class?
There's also http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=most+influential+guitarist&btnG=Search&meta= 

Pick one and run with it.

Even if you pick Bob from around the corner, as long as you can do the research and argue your case that's the point right? There is no right answer (well, OK, there is: Jimi Hendrix), it's a process. Pick any record you've ever heard with a guitar player on it and find out about that one.


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## Groovious (Nov 2, 2008)

I would say Groovious,

He changed guitar playing by making it sound awful. :rockon2:

Sorry I couldn't resist lol


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Groovious said:


> I would say Groovious,
> 
> He changed guitar playing by making it sound awful. :rockon2:
> 
> Sorry I couldn't resist lol


Well done!....LOL

This could lead to another VERY long list

Dave


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

tudge said:


> I need a guitarist who has changed the way guitar is played, and 3 reasons how/why he/she did it.


Jeff Healey. As far as I know he's the only one that played it that way. I'm not saying he's the first. But as far as I know he was. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't know about 3 reasons but one obvious reason was he played it in his lap. Seemed to give him an advantage being able to use the thumb on his left hand alot more actively.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Paul said:


> Lenny Breau as an "also ran"????????? There are no wrong answers to the original question, but duuuuuuude, that is the wrong adjective(s) for Lenny Breau.:smile:


I know, bad choice of words - but just in comparison to Hendrix and Segovia. There's not a player mentioned in this entire thread that's really an "also ran" -- (well, maybe Groovious but I haven't heard him play )
Our homework-dodging young friend could pick any name from this list and build a life's work around cataloguing their contributions to guitar playing and to music in general...including Lenny.


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## rebeldog (Dec 24, 2008)

tudge said:


> I need a guitarist who has changed the way guitar is played, and 3 reasons how/why he/she did it.
> 
> I was thinking Bo Diddley but all I could find was his Bo Diddley beat.
> 
> Thanks!


what about leo fender who apparently invented the solid body electric guitar


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## ccuwan (Jul 9, 2008)

rebeldog said:


> what about leo fender


Good Answer but my vote is for Robert Johnson


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

rebeldog said:


> what about leo fender who apparently invented the solid body electric guitar


He wasn't a player though. And isn't there some debate as to just who actually invented the (solid body) electric guitar: Adolph Rickenbacher, Les Paul, and Leo Fender are the names I've heard most often. Leo certainly made it to market first though...


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

devnulljp said:


> He wasn't a player though. And isn't there some debate as to just who actually invented the (solid body) electric guitar: Adolph Rickenbacher, Les Paul, and Leo Fender are the names I've heard most often. Leo certainly made it to market first though...


I don't think the claim is that he invented the first solid body electric but that he was the first to mass produce it. 
Although not a noted guitar player, he did play them. I imagine it would be pretty tough to decided you wanted to build them with no knowledge of playing them.

http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000928/Leo-Fender.html


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## rebeldog (Dec 24, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> He wasn't a player though. And isn't there some debate as to just who actually invented the (solid body) electric guitar: Adolph Rickenbacher, Les Paul, and Leo Fender are the names I've heard most often. Leo certainly made it to market first though...


don't know if he was much of a player or not but I would say he did change the way guitar is played (you would think he played some)


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