{"id":4856,"date":"2017-09-28T13:21:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T17:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/?p=4856"},"modified":"2023-01-25T13:25:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:25:31","slug":"guitar-playing-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/guitar-playing-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Playing Styles"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I got my first job in Seattle working as a busboy at a busy restaurant, I would often ask the chefs working with me for tips on how to cook. \u201cHow do you cook salmon?,\u201d I naively asked \u00a0a stressed out chef one day. \u201cThere\u2019s literally thousands of answers to that question,\u201d the surly chef replied before turning away to mince some garlic. When it comes to the subject of exploring different guitar playing styles, it\u2019s similar to cooking salmon in the fact that there\u2019s an overwhelming amount of history, nuance and unique characteristics that can be heard and learned within each style\u2019s genre. In this article, I\u2019ll discuss and explore some of the more prominent and influential guitar playing styles found in popular music\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n

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Where did the modern guitar come from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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If we want to properly understand guitar genres like blues, rock and jazz, we should learn what the guitar actually is and where it came from. These days, the guitar is as commonplace as anything you\u2019re likely to find in a person\u2019s home, but even the most serious guitarists don\u2019t usually bother to ask where the heck this amazing instrument came from.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The lute bears a similar design to it’s contemporary relative, the guitar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, \u201cThe beginnings of the European guitar are unknown. Scholars disagree as to whether the guitar, like the lute, was introduced to medieval Europe from the Middle East, or if it was indigenous to Europe. It is impossible to establish the history of the guitar before the Renaissance, but there are some much earlier plucked-string instruments which are related to later guitars either in physical form or playing technique.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Long before the birth of modern guitars there were crude predecessor instruments that appear to have paved the way for guitars as we know them today. Instruments dating all the way back to 3500 B.C. called \u201cbowl harps\u201d were built from suspending strings from a long, narrow stick down to a hollowed-out gourd. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Thousands of years later, acoustic, electric and classical guitars are unavoidable within popular culture. It\u2019s safe to say that the guitar is the most popular instrument in the world, and rhythm and lead guitar playing is now found in virtually every genre of music. <\/span><\/p>\n

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How the guitar came to America and came to dominate popular music<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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A version of the guitar made its way to North America during the 16th century by way of early Spanish explorers and missionaries. These early guitars were combinations of simple peasant instruments that also shared characteristics of the viola de amo, which was an instrument favored by the noble class in Spanish society. The English brought over their version of the guitar called the cittern during the 18th century. Citterns were extremely popular and they were even owned by towering historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Acoustic guitars as we know them today were developed in America during the 1830\u2019s by European immigrants. Instrument makers didn\u2019t start attempting to amplify the guitar\u2019s sound until the 1920\u2019s when bands were looking for ways to play loud enough to be heard by large dancehall crowds. The first electric magnetic pickup was invented by George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker in 1931, and the guitarists of a myriad of genres began playing the newly invented electric guitar soon after. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Rickenbacker guitars continue to be a popular choice for musicians, including Tame Impala \/ Kevin Parker featured here.
Photo credit: Christian Bertand \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The electric guitar allowed musicians to explore new tones, sounds and effects, and entire genres like rock and roll were built off of the instrument\u2019s unique and driving sound. In 2017, the guitar is more popular than ever due to its portability, approachability for beginners and versatile sound. New sound technology being ushered in by effects pedals are giving guitarists a seemingly infinite tapestry of sounds and textures to work with, and fresh and interesting music is being written on and for the instrument every day. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Now that you know more about where this amazing instrument came from and how it was developed, let\u2019s talk about some of the more important guitar playing styles being explored today.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blues<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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It\u2019s impossible to bring up guitar playing styles without talking about the blues. The blues has had an indelible impact on not just guitar music but all music heard within popular culture today. Much more than a playing style, blues music essentially provided the blueprints for the songs we\u2019ve all heard and loved in music over the past century. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Blues music originated over a century ago in the Mississippi delta region in the American south. It was traditionally thought of as the music of longing, pain and dissatisfaction, and the lyrical content of the music is matched by the genre\u2019s unique sound which is built off progressions of dominant seventh chords that never fully resolve. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s an example of dominant chords in a song form called the 12-bar blues. Most blues songs feature a variation of this chord progression.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The blues playing style makes use of \u201cblue notes\u201d in scales. Blue notes are lowered third, fifth and seventh scale degrees. Scales with these notes are usually known as blues scales. Blues guitarists use blues and pentatonic scales to create lyrical, ornate solos in songs. Here\u2019s an example of a blues scale that a guitarist would use to improvise or write riffs and solos with:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Guitar playing styles like the blues sometimes feature strumming patterns that are swung rather than played straight. Straight eighth notes are played precisely on and between beats, but swung eighth notes stray from that formula. It\u2019s easier to understand swung rhythms by listening to them instead of reading about them. They\u2019re sequences of long and short notes played back to back that repeat throughout a song. The sound of swung rhythms is something akin to to sound of a horse galloping in slow motion. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Rhythm guitarists use straight and swung strumming patterns to play simple, repetitive chord progressions. Life might seem sort of boring for a rhythm blues guitarist, but their job is massively important within the genre. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Blues music served as a precursor to rock and jazz styles in the 30\u2019s and 40\u2019s, and it remains vibrant and relevant today because new artists are constantly reinventing music made in the genre. Here\u2019s indie-blues band Alabama Shakes\u2019 unique interpretation of modern blues music:<\/span><\/p>\n

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