Rock and Roll Lives On And The Guitar Ain’t Dead
Rock’s signature instrument looks backward to go forward and a new generation of women take up the axe.
Despite the ghastly progress corporate capitalism has made toward the beating heart of rock n’ roll’s circulatory system, the music remains healthy and as connected as ever to all that has made it great since its inception.
Rock and roll is fundamentally populist. This is its superpower. It comes from the ground up. It is not the music of the elites, no matter how much the elites spend to co-opt it, and no matter how rich some of its most prodigious exploiters become.
This is why the guitar matters. No other instrument can achieve so much with so little, in a way that is so accessible to so many. This is the victory of rock and roll, and it is why the guitar is rock’s most important instrument.
Certainly, the harmonica is perhaps the most democratic of music-making mechanisms, though even this little suite of reeds between two slices of silver sandwich bread has become rather grotesquely commodified. (Yes, one key-of-C Seydel 1847 Silver will indeed set you back upwards of $100).
But as delightful as a harmonica can be in the hands and mouth of a master (Hammie Nixon with Sleepy John Estes tops my list, thank you very much), it has its limits.
On the other hand, the piano unquestionably reigns supreme as rock and roll’s mightiest music maker. The scope and scale of what a piano can do are unmatched. But pianos ain’t cheap, and they sure aren’t portable.
In defense of pianos, they’ve been surprisingly ubiquitous over the years and have made it to many unlikely places — from brothels and cafes to libraries and school rooms. And the piano certainly does loom large in rock and roll’s story.
But ultimately, it is the guitar that offers the best of everything. Available. Portable. Accessible. And yet, so powerful. It is a drum, a bass, a chord, a melody, a voice, all in one.
And it is so tactile. So visceral. So real. You grab it with both hands. You press it and strike it. You literally wear it.
Portability is also a critical factor in the success and meaning of the guitar. Rock and roll is a human story, and human stories must travel. Sailors on the seas. Hobos on the rails. Gauchos on horseback. The folk tradition is the origin story of rock and roll, and rock and roll guitars have been on the road since the beginning.
Rock and roll’s omnivorous appetite for influence is a defining characteristic. It is an always-hungry beast swallowing every morsel of music it flushes out — blues, country, folk, gospel, and jazz most obviously, but also everything from classical and calypso to ragtimes and ragas — and the guitar is rock and roll’s handiest multi-tool because it can be trusted to command all the above genres and more.
Whether we’re talking about Willie Nelson’s love for Django Reinhardt, Yngwie Malmsteen’s admiration for Paganini, or Johnny Winter’s adoration of Muddy Waters, guitarists across the spectrum have always been pulling from further fields to keep their music fresh.
This was the case from the start. Early rock and roll pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, and Buddy Holly were heavily influenced by blues, country, and folk artists. The 50s — rock and roll’s first heyday — was defined by redefinition. And the guitar was the era’s most visible implement of transformation.
In the 60s, the guitar expanded its diet exponentially. Jimmy Page pilfered from the blues and played with a violin bow. Joni Mitchell turned folk on its head with jazz chords and a painter’s mind. Jeff Beck looked ahead and saw fusion in the future. Keith Richards looked back and saw Chuck Berry in the rearview.
As the 60s headed for the 70s, Leo Kottke and John Fahey combined everything from ragtime, blues, and Celtic music to reinvent the acoustic guitar, while Carlos Santana introduced a Latin flavor to the stoned heads who woke up from Woodstock. Duane Allman made electric slide guitar cool again, and Peter Frampton brought us the talk-box (for better or worse).
The 80s, of course, are known for the rise of the synth sound, but even its synthiest stars relied heavily on the guitar: Duran Duran, Missing Persons, and Flock of Seagulls, just to name a few. And heck, The Cure’s Robert Smith is a vastly underrated but highly accomplished and important guitar player. And, of course, the 80s also gave us pioneers ranging from The Edge and Johnny Marr to Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The guitar went new places yet again as the 80s gave way to the 90s — back to the garage with the grunge bands and into the clubs with Madchester. The guitar triumphed in the hands of pop-punkers Green Day and the arty mopers in Radiohead. Vernon Reid continued to blow us all away with his fast-fingering in Living Color, while Tom Morello came fast on his heels with his hard political punk-metal sounds.
And then came the oughts. A quick look at what ascended the charts in the “lost decade” is a bit of a nightmare trawl. Rick Rubin-era Red Hot Chili Peppers imitating good Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kings of Leon and Nickelback’s Gap-ad rock. Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit’s limping links to the worst of rap and metal. Creed. Staind. Puddle of Mud. All a puddle of shit. It must be said that all was not lost. The White Stripes reminded us how to strip down to get down. Queens of the Stone Age made metal smart again. And the aforementioned Green Day showed that rock and roll can grow up and still flip you off.
20+ years on from Y2K, the headlines are alive anew with questions about whether rock and roll is over and the guitar is dead.
This article makes some really great points about why the answer is a big ol’ “no”:
“It’s notable that some of the most exciting guitarists of today are women: Nita Strauss, Erja Lyytinen, and Yvette Young, among them. The internet means that guitarists from more countries are coming to prominence as well, including Brazil’s Mateus Asato and Lari Basilio, Japan’s Ichika Nito, and Niger’s Mdou Moctar.
That increasing diversity means a bigger pool of ideas and more chances for new sounds to emerge. It would be arrogant to assume all the guitar’s possibilities have been explored when so far only a tiny slice of the population has even tried.”
In 2018, we, in fact, learned that women account for 50% of all new and aspiring guitar players.
From Sister Rosetta Sharpe and Memphis Minnie to Odetta and Bonnie Raitt, and from Joan Jett and Poison Ivy to Nancy Wilson and St. Vincent, women have long been driving the guitar forward, and these numbers make clear that this is a phenomenon that is not only not going to stop but is going to accelerate.
It must also be noted that rock and roll guitar is now global. Gone are the days when the US and the UK were battling it out for the top spot in the chart battles. Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, and so many more. All hotbeds of rock and roll.
Here’s another stat for you, cited in yet another article tackling the “Is rock and roll guitar dead?’ question:
“According to Statista, guitar sales in 2020 generated 1.67 billion dollars, an increase from the year before when they generated 1.57 billion dollars.”
Clearly, somebody’s influencing somebodys somewhere. And hey, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift may be grotesque amusement-park replicas of real rock and roll artists, but at least they, too, play the damn guitar.
As do Samantha Fish and Ana Popovic. As do Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe. As do Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Gary Clark Jr. As do Ally Venable and Eric Gales. As do Molly Tuttle and Jason Isbell. As do Gillian Welch and Valerie June. As do so many more vital roots, blues, jazz, Americana, bluegrass, and country musicians.
Here’s the thing: rock and roll and the guitar aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But as they’ve often had to do before, sometimes they need to look backward to go forward.
And that’s a damn good thing.
