The Guitar Hero in Classic Rock

doi:10.1017/9781009224420.004

4 - The Guitar Hero in Classic Rock

from Part I - History

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2024

John Covach

Edited by

Jan-Peter Herbst and

Steve Waksman

Show author details

Jan-Peter Herbst: Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman: Affiliation:
Smith College, Massachusetts

Book contents

Get access

Summary

This chapter examines the rise of the guitar hero in the period from the mid 1960s until the early 1990s, with an emphasis on the 1970−1985 period. The “hippie aesthetic” is explored to establish the various aspects of musical ambition among guitarists that helped to make technical virtuosity a key factor in this rise. Readers’ polls primarily from Guitar Player magazine are surveyed to explore how aspiring guitarists in the 1970s and later ranked contemporary (but also historical) guitarists. These polls suggest that aspiring guitarists sometimes preferred different guitarists to those who might be most popular among the general listening public. A brief survey of modern guitar hero polls suggests that the guitar heroes of the 1970s have mostly retained their standing, though some newer ones appear in these polls and some older ones have receded.

Keywords

hippie aesthetic Guitar Player Magazine readers’ polls guitar hero studio guitarist virtuosity musical ambition

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar , pp. 53 - 70

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009224420.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Selected Bibliography

Bennett, Andy and Dawe, Kevin, Guitar Cultures (Berg, 2001).Google Scholar

Coehlo, Victor Anand, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Guitar (Cambridge University Press, 2003).Google Scholar

Covach, John, What’s That Sound? An Introduction to Rock and Its History (W.W. Norton and Co., 2006).Google Scholar

Crockett, Jim and Crockett, Dara, ed., Guitar Player: The Inside Story of the First Two Decades of the Most Successful Guitar Magazine Ever (Backbeat Books, 2015).Google Scholar

Cross, Charles R., Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix (Hyperion, 2005).Google Scholar

Kitts, Jeff, ed., The Complete History of Guitar World: 30 Years of Music, Magic & Six-String Mayhem (Backbeat Books, 2010).Google Scholar

Molenda, Michael, ed., Guitar Player Presents Guitar Heroes of the 1970s (Backbeat Books, 2011).Google Scholar

Scott, Paul, Motherless Child: The Definitive Biography of Eric Clapton (Headline, 2015).Google Scholar

Tolinski, Brad and di Perna, Alan, Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, & Revolution of the Electric Guitar (Doubleday, 2016).Google Scholar

Waksman, Steve, Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience (Harvard University Press, 1999).Google Scholar

Walser, Robert, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Wesleyan University Press, 1993).Google Scholar