A Brief Blues Guitar History by Griff Hamlin
In the 1920's and 1930's, blues guitar players like Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Son House, Robert Johnson, and Lonnie Johnson were the
influential performers of the day. They used a slide which was often
made out of a knife blade or the broken or sawed off neck from a bottle.
Most of the music was improvised, and unaccompanied. The form of the
songs were loose, and were rarely, if ever, played the same way twice.
As the 1940's came, the jump blues style characterized by big band music
sequestered the guitar to the rhythm section primarily. The primary
influence of this era on blues guitar is that it heavily influenced the
development of what would later be known as rock and roll, or rhythm and
blues.
After World War II in the 1950's, blues guitar became electrified and
amplified. Starting in Chicago, this new electric blues was
characterized by the sounds of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy
Reed. All of these players grew up in Mississippi, but migrated to
Chicago. The bands typically had, in addition to the electric guitar,
harmonica and a rhythm section of bass and drums. Sometimes there would
also be a saxophone, though it would be relegated to a rhythmic support
role.
B.B. King and Freddie King were also making names for themselves at this
time. They were somewhat unique at the time because they did not make
use of the slide to play the guitar. B.B. King has long been considered
one of the greatest blues guitar players of all time. Freddie King has
often been called the King of the Boogie Woogie guitar.
While Chicago had it's own sound in the 1950's, some other artists such
as T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker were creating what some call the
California Blues style. T-Bone Walker was born in Dallas, while Hooker
was born in Mississippi. The California Blues Style that they helped to
forge was smoother than the Chicago Blues and is somewhat of a melting
pot for Chicago Blues, jump blues, and some jazz swing.
Starting in the 1960's, Caucasian audiences gained more interest in
blues guitar thanks in part to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and what
was later to be called the British Blues Movement. Bands such as
Fleetwood Mac, Cream, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, the Rolling
Stone, and the Yardbirds were performing classic blues tunes in addition
to their original tunes. Many of these artists inspired American
blues-rock artists like Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, and Johnny Winter.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison where
creating what is called the West Side style of Chicago Blues. Their
bands were dominated by the amplified electric blues guitar and heavily
influenced later artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Lang, and
Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Since the early 1980's, the blues has enjoyed quite a resurgence in
America. The Texas Rock-Blues Style of Stevie Ray Vaughan and The
Fabulous Thunderbirds brought the blues to American rock radio stations.
Eric Clapton, who originally gained his fame with Cream and John
Mayall, continues to make great blues guitar albums and even recently
recorded a set of old Robert Johnson classics. Many famous, legendary
blues guitar players such as Buddy Guy and B.B. King continue to share
the stage with the new generation of blues guitar players like Robert
Cray, Joe Bonamassa, and Walter Trout.
