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The History of the Electric Guitar: A Sound Revolution
A plain-language history of the electric guitar, from 1930s pickup experiments and big-band solos to solid bodies, rock distortion and a new popular sound.
Communication and Computing
The Electric Guitar
Pickups, amplifiers and the instrument that changed popular music.
The Forgotten History of the First Electric Guitar Amplifier
Why the guitar needed amplification, how early tube amplifiers of the 1930s and 1940s were built, and the lesser-known makers behind them.
The History of the Electric Guitar: From Early Experimentation to Mass Production
How the electric guitar moved from pickup-equipped lap steels and hollow archtops to the solid-body models that Fender and Gibson put into regular production.
The History of the Electric Guitar: From Jazz to Rock
How jazz players first adopted the amplified guitar in the late 1930s, and how blues and rock musicians later pushed it toward distortion and volume.
The Invention of the Electric Guitar: A Musical Revolution
How the amplified guitar changed band arrangements, stage volume and the overall sound of popular music from the 1930s onward, in plain language.
The Story of the First Electric Guitar: A Sound Revolution
How magnetic pickups turned string vibration into electricity in the 1930s, who built the early versions, and why the question of the first electric guitar is disputed.
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