I wrote this essay for a research project in my language arts class and I had quite a lot of fun writing it and doing the research so I figured I would share it. I encourage anyone that reads this to share their thoughts and feedback, Here it is:



There’s no doubt that the electric guitar has been very important to popular music for a very long time, with many musicians incorporating its unique sound into their music. But how did it rise to such popularity and influence? How has it evolved over the years to eventually become one of the most popular instruments? The constant work of skilled innovators has caused it to go through many distinct changes since its creation. Such innovations include concepts like guitars with more than six strings or immensely popular guitar models like the Fender Stratocaster. Before getting to this, though, let’s start with the beginning.

The first commercially successful electric guitar was the Rickenbacker Electro A-22, more commonly known as the “frying pan.” Patented by George Beauchamp, it demonstrated the first use of electromagnetic pickups in a successful electric guitar. Before its creation, guitars were often drowned out by the loud volume of other instruments they were playing along with. This was a big issue if a guitarist wanted to be able to add to the music in any meaningful way, so the concept of an electric guitar was born and along with it the Frying Pan. After the invention of the Frying Pan, other manufacturers began to explore electric guitars as well.
There were other notable electric guitars that came shortly after the Frying Pan. Its popularity was instrumental in the growth of subsequent guitars. The Slingerland Songster was a Spanish-style solid body guitar that expanded upon the ideas the Frying Pan had set, enlarging the body and adding other components such as a pickguard and multiple tone knobs. Another example of an important electric guitar was the Les Paul Log. The Log was a guitar designed by inventor and guitarist Les Paul in the early 1940s which solved some issues that were presented by earlier guitars such as the Frying Pan or Songster. One such issue was the vibration of the body as the guitar was played, which creates unwanted noise. Les Paul used a long block of pine to help stabilize the body and prevent it from vibrating as much. The Log also incorporated multiple pickups for a more full-sounding tone, something not previously done on very many electric guitar models. The innovations of the Frying Pan, Songster, and Log all helped lead music to a new era it wouldn’t come back from.

Fast forward to 1954. This was the year when the Fender Stratocaster, a guitar that would go on to become the most popular electric guitar ever, was released to the public. The first ideas for the Stratocaster began in 1951 when Leo Fender started working on plans for a new electric guitar that would join the Telecaster in the Fender lineup of guitars. Through the years until the Stratocaster’s official release in 1954, Fender and his team worked hard to come up with new, innovative ideas that could succeed in the growing industry. The Stratocaster may have taken three years to complete, but it was well worth the work.
The Stratocaster was not initially highly successful. While it was always being modified over the years, the guitar didn’t come to the legendary status it has now until about ten years after its release. Its popularity was steadily growing through this time, though. As the years passed, more and more famous guitarists such as Buddy Holly made use of it, further promoting its trademark sound. When the 60s rolled around, there was a plethora of budding guitar gods just waiting to burst into the industry. And they did just that, with Stratocasters. Many extremely influential guitarists such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd or Jimi Hendrix revolutionized guitar playing and sent the Stratocaster into oblivion in terms of popularity. Today, it remains the most popular electric guitar and has been used countless times by millions of guitar players.

One of the most important electric guitar innovations was the 7-string guitar. The guitar featured an extra string (the low B string) that allowed for much heavier music and an extended range of possible notes. The first guitar of this kind was the Ibanez UV7. The UV7 was a revolutionary guitar because it opened up a world of possibilities for guitarists to explore, and it was the signature sound many artists were looking for.
Renowned guitarist Steve Vai was one of the first to try guitars like the UV7. He even played a role in its creation; the general style of the guitar was based on one of his signature models, the Ibanez JEM. After the UV7’s release, it was quickly picked up by metal bands like Korn and Meshuggah. Korn’s 1994 self-titled debut featured heavy use of the UV7, and 7-string guitars became part of their unique sound. The guitar allowed them to create ultra-heavy tones on songs like “Blind” and “Shoots and Ladders,” which became very popular songs and contributed to Korn’s immense success. Overall, the use of the UV7 led Korn to become one of the most popular metal bands of all time.

So, how has the electric guitar changed since its creation? Its evolution followed many groundbreaking innovations, from the Frying Pan to the Stratocaster to the UV7 and beyond. The electric guitar has made a lasting impact on music that will continue to be experimented with and changed, creating endless new possibilities.

when tuned to [drop c v] :: hat events
repeat until <drenched in sweat? :: sensing>
blast some epic [system of a down v] riffs :: motion
end

Love it. There is so much hidden lore on the electric guitar that I never knew about until now

-Expo wrote:

Love it. There is so much hidden lore on the electric guitar that I never knew about until now

Thanks! This is only a small fraction of lore, and I probably would've written more if there wasn't a length limit.

when tuned to [drop c v] :: hat events
repeat until <drenched in sweat? :: sensing>
blast some epic [system of a down v] riffs :: motion
end

butterscotch telecaster

By the way you haven't mentioned the lava guitar and the hello kitty squier

Xzillox wrote:

-Expo wrote:

Love it. There is so much hidden lore on the electric guitar that I never knew about until now

Thanks! This is only a small fraction of lore, and I probably would've written more if there wasn't a length limit.

I recall there being a 200k character limit. This is nowhere close

still good job

SIovakia wrote:

butterscotch telecaster

tbh I think teles are kinda ugly but they sound really good. I didn't include the telecaster because while it's a popular guitar, strats are much more popular.

By the way you haven't mentioned the lava guitar

It's a very cool and modern concept but I had limited time and space so as mentioned in #3 if I had more flexibility on the length of it I would've included more information.

when tuned to [drop c v] :: hat events
repeat until <drenched in sweat? :: sensing>
blast some epic [system of a down v] riffs :: motion
end

Xzillox wrote:

SIovakia wrote:

butterscotch telecaster

tbh I think teles are kinda ugly but they sound really good. I didn't include the telecaster because while it's a popular guitar, strats are much more popular.

By the way you haven't mentioned the lava guitar

It's a very cool and modern concept but I had limited time and space so as mentioned in #3 if I had more flexibility on the length of it I would've included more information.

oh yeah on the essay is the character limit, I forgot this was an assignment

I think my only critiques are that it should be mentioned the Telecaster was the first commercially available electric guitar, so for the public to buy. I may have just missed this though. As a future 8 string guitarist I'm a bit biased but I would also include Tosin Abasi essentially becoming one of very few people to master an 8 string guitar and how extended range guitarists are becoming more prominent. It seems like as the guitar evolves, so do we universally as players.

Overall a very good essay, those are honestly just personal critiques. I'd easily give it a 100, but I'm not a teacher. I hope you do good on the assignment though!

{clears throat to point out all grammatical error} erm actually- /j /j /j

core_kid wrote:

I think my only critiques are that it should be mentioned the Telecaster was the first commercially available electric guitar, so for the public to buy. I may have just missed this though. As a future 8 string guitarist I'm a bit biased but I would also include Tosin Abasi essentially becoming one of very few people to master an 8 string guitar and how extended range guitarists are becoming more prominent. It seems like as the guitar evolves, so do we universally as players.

Overall a very good essay, those are honestly just personal critiques. I'd easily give it a 100, but I'm not a teacher. I hope you do good on the assignment though!

Thanks for the feedback! Those are all valid points and I do agree that I should've mentioned more guitars however before even writing the essay I basically had the three main points that I made in it planned out (1. Frying Pan and other early guitars 2. Stratocaster 3. 7-stringed guitars) and I pretty much went with that structure from that point. I think I could've done better at putting more information in between the first and second points since there's a pretty large time gap and I could've also broadened my third point to also include extended range guitars in general.

-Rodri wrote:

{clears throat to point out all grammatical error} erm actually- /j /j /j

I'm being serious right now are there actually any grammatical errors because I turned this in 30 seconds before it was due so I easily could've missed something important (I didn't proofread it)

when tuned to [drop c v] :: hat events
repeat until <drenched in sweat? :: sensing>
blast some epic [system of a down v] riffs :: motion
end

-Rodri wrote:

{clears throat to point out all grammatical error} erm actually- /j /j /j

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