The Weird Instrument That Made Hippie Hits and Sexy Slow Jams
Electric Sitar Daze
Sympathetic Vibrations
The electric sitar was invented in 1967 by session guitarist Vinnie Bell, because, goddamn it, it was totally necessary after The Fab Four had gone and popularized the real one. Although the actual sitar sounded cool, it was hard to find, hard to learn, hard to carry around. Perhaps this new ersatz version could satisfy the record-buying public eager to experiment with new cultures and ideas by simply listening to catchy pop tunes.
This new sitar was really an inexpensive electric guitar that had been modified with sympathetic droning strings and a bridge that made the strings buzz a bit when you played them, creating an effect very similar to a sitar.
The electric sitar was elemental for the dime-store psychedelia of the already gimmicky-without-it Green Tambourine (#1,1968). Straight up Pop songs like the effervescent Hooked On A Feeling (#5, 1969) and The Box Tops’ Cry Like A Baby (#2, 1968) also spun gold with the help of the talented usurper.
The way the notes quavered as they sprang forth from the instrument made the electric sitar more expressive than the standard guitar. A skilled player could accentuate this quality, and be rewarded with a very dynamic sound, by varying the attack on the strings.
Bell, already an in-demand studio musician, not only worked with guitar manufacturer Danelectro to produce a commercial version of the new instrument, he played it on such early hits as Green Tambourine and Freda Payne’s Band of Gold (#3, 1970).
The sound soon lingered everywhere, like the scent of patchouli oil in the doorways of the hippie haven of Haight Street. This new instrument was the kind of thing that recording studios had on hand in case you wanted to use it, like they had electric basses in the early ‘lectric bass days.
Slow Jam Specialty
But this new instrument would outlast the age of Flower Power — continuing on into the mid-1970s and beyond. The instrument was no longer about wrapping your pop song in an instant hippie vibe. Now it was for getting next to that special someone. A new sound, later to be named the Slow Jam, came out of Philadelphia.
There was so much electric sitar on records by the Delfonics and Stylistics, it seemed the instrument might be growing like a weed in Philly. The Delfonics hit #10 on the Pop charts with Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time? The peak of electric sitar romanticism may be The Stylistics evergreen R&B hit You Make Me Feel Brand New (#2, Hot 100, 1974).
Studio Vibes
Another huge hit was Redbone’s Come and Get Your Love, (#5, 1974) with sitar providing a distinctive sound for the main riff, then filling gleefully on the transitions. Yes, the e-sitar was one of those instruments that cut through mightily on the tinny transistor and car radios of the day. But did you really need it after you cut the record?
Submitted into evidence, Exhibit One, 1974: Redbone plays Come and Get Your Love on NBC’s Friday late night Top 40 blowout, The Midnight Special. Artists almost always played live on the Special (though it was taped and actually wasn’t broadcast live). Redbone, in their full Native American regalia, totally killed it. Without the electric sitar. The lead guitar player just did all that stuff on his common Fender Stratocaster. And it was great. Nobody cared that the electric sitar was collecting dust somewhere.
One More Time
While it’s use peaked in the early to mid 70s, the electric sitar made a bit of a comeback on a couple big 80s hits, Steal Away, (Robbie Dupree ,#6, 1980) and Everytime You Go Away, (Paul Young, #1, 1985). Finally, retro rocker Lenny Kravitz plinked away on one in It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over (#2, 1991).
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we heard the sweet sound of the electric sitar quite often, well past the instrument’s golden era. Every time the commercial for Sleep Train mattresses (now defunct) came on the TV. Even if it was a new commercial, they still used that same backing music with someone laying it down like a smoove mutha on the electric sitar.
Sympathetic Vibrations of the Electric Sitar
- Green Tambourine (#1,1968)
- Hooked On A Feeling (#5, 1969)
- Cry Like A Baby (#2, 1968)
- Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time? (#10, 1970)
- You Make Me Feel Brand New (#2, Hot 100, 1974)
- Come and Get Your Love, (#5, 1974)
More Electric Sitar Jams
- Games People Play, Joe South, (#12, 1969)
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Stevie Wonder (#3, 1970)
- Do It Again, Steely Dan (#6, 1972–73) (just solo section)
- Steal Away, Robbie Dupree (#6, 1980)
- Every Time You Go Away, Paul Young (#1, 1985)
- It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over, Lenny Kravitz (#2, 1991)
