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GOING ELECTRIC: HOW ELECTRICITY HELPED BRING THE GUITAR TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC

OVERVIEW

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?

OVERVIEW

In the early 20th century, the guitar was a purely acoustic instrument. Its limited dynamic range typically relegated it to a supporting role in ensemble performance. Surrounded on the bandstand by horns, drums and other stringed instruments, the sound of an acoustic guitar was barely audible.

In the early 1930s, as advances in microphone technology raised the volume of the singer, the invention of the electromagnetic "pickup" allowed guitar players to turn up the volume as well. Situated on the body of the instrument just below the strings, the pickup created magnetic fields that converted the vibrations of the strings into electrical signals. Sent from the guitar through a cable, these signals were transmitted to an amplified loudspeaker (the "amplifier"), and the guitar became substantially louder.

In 1936, Gibson introduced the ES-150 model, a mass-produced guitar that included a mounted electromagnetic pickup. As guitarists embraced the electrified instrument, the perception and uses of the guitar began to change dramatically. For instance, Oklahoma musician Charlie Christian adapted the language of jazz soloing, previously performed mostly on woodwinds, brass and piano, to the electric guitar's fretboard, moving the instrument to a featured spot on the bandstand.

As the electric guitar's popularity increased in the 1940s and 50s, new musical styles emerged, including the Urban Blues performed by southern musicians who came north to industrial cities during the Great Migration. These musicians left rural regions such as the Mississippi Delta to seek better working conditions in large, northern metropolitan areas. Once in the North, musicians performed to larger and louder audiences, and the electric guitar helped them to be heard above the crowd.

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GOING ELECTRIC: HOW ELECTRICITY HELPED BRING THE GUITAR TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC

OVERVIEW (CONTINUED) In the early 1950s, "going electric" was more than just a pragmatic decision, it was an idea that reflected the spirit of the times. Commercial culture was littered with products promoting an emerging vision of "modernity" in which life was improved by the newest, the fastest and most advanced...of almost everything. Razors, toasters, automobiles and guitars: all were offered as a gateway to the future. In addition to turning up the guitar's volume, electricity was touted as making cooking, shaving and woodworking easier, quicker and more precise. These advances were in a technology's function but promoted through its design. For instance, the stylized curves of the 1952 Fender Telecaster--the first mass-produced solid-body guitar--bore some resemblance to the "modern" shapes of both jukeboxes and the Oldsmobile "Rocket 88" sedan, all designed for the contemporary experience. When a guitarist strapped on a Telecaster he was wearing the look of the "modern" and creating new, "electrified" sounds. By the late 1960s, sales of electric guitars rose to nearly 1.5 million per year, far beyond the number sold a decade earlier. This lesson investigates how electrifying the guitar was a contributing factor to the emergence of a sound that came to define Rock and Roll and, to a large extent, mid20th century American popular culture. Featuring content from the PBS Soundbreaking episode, "Going Electric," which includes the guitar playing of luminaries Charlie Christian, Pete Townsend, Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix, this lesson examines the spirit of curiosity, adaptation and invention that characterized the early 1950s and in the 1960s led to the guitar's emergence as a versatile and attractive instrument for musicians and as the quintessential Rock and Roll icon.

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GOING ELECTRIC: HOW ELECTRICITY HELPED BRING THE GUITAR TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this lesson, students will:

1. KNOW (KNOWLEDGE):

? About the technology used to transform the acoustic guitar into an "electric" instrument

? How electromagnetism can be used to transmit sound

? About the process through which an electromagnetic pickup amplifies the sound of a guitar

? How "electrifying" the guitar changed perceptions of the instrument as well as its role in American music ensembles

? How the emergence of the electric guitar relates to significant cultural shifts in mid-20th century America, such as the Great Migration

? How the marketing of the electric guitar fit in to 1950s commercial culture

? How the sounds of a popular instrument can reflect broader patterns in American culture

2. BE ABLE TO (SKILLS):

? Analyze the effects of technological advancement on popular culture and art

? Examine visual texts for information, point of view and argument

? Evaluate the effects of technology on history and culture

? Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media formats

ACTIVITIES

MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY: Ask your students:

? How would you describe the guitar John Lee Hooker plays in Image 1? ? How would you describe the guitar Brian May plays in Image 2? ? Why do you think there is a "sound hole" below the strings on Hooker's guitar but not on May's guitar? ? Which musician do you think was making louder music? Why?

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GOING ELECTRIC: HOW ELECTRICITY HELPED BRING THE GUITAR TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC

PROCEDURE:

1. Distribute Handout 1: The Guitar - From Acoustic to Electric. Read the handout out loud as a class and then ask your students:

? Why do you think guitarists wanted the guitar to become louder?

? In what ways might the volume increase of the guitar affect a musical group as a whole? (Possible answers may include that groups became louder or that they became smaller due to the instrument's sound being capable of filling more space.)

2. Play Clip 1, Soundbreaking - Charlie Christian & the Introduction of the Electric Guitar. Ask students:

? How does this clip suggest that the role of the guitar changed after it became amplified?

? How does this clip suggest that Charlie Christian changed the common perception of guitar players through his work with the Benny Goodman Sextet? What did he do that previous guitarists had not?

3. Break students into small groups and distribute Handout 2: How the Guitar Pickup Works and Handout 3: The SolidBody Guitar. Have students read the handouts together and then discuss the following questions as a class:

? In what ways do you think the electromagnetic pickup led to the guitar becoming a solid-body instrument?

? How do you think the solid-body guitar furthered the process of making the guitar a louder instrument? (Students should recognize that the reduced resonance in the body of the instrument allowed for a more direct capturing of the sound and eliminated feedback, which then allowed amplifiers to be turned up louder.)

? Who do you think might have been most interested in making louder music? What age group do you think they were?

? Looking at the diagram included on the advertisement in this handout, are there any

ways in which you think the marketing of this instrument might have appealed to people interested in technology in general?

4. Tell your students that you will now follow the guitar through its transition from acoustic to electric along with a group of musicians that made the same transition. Play Clip 2, Soundbreaking - Blues Musicians Migrate to Chicago. Ask your students:

? Why does this clip suggest it was uncommon for Blues musicians in the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s and 30s to use electric guitars?

? Why does Muddy Waters say that he, and so many other musicians moved from Mississippi and the Delta region to Chicago and other northern cities?

? How do you think moving from a rural to a metropolitan area may have affected musicians' opportunities to perform? In which location do you think they performed to more people? Why?

? How does this clip suggest these migrant musicians made use of the new possibilities of the electric guitar?

? Thinking of a musician such as Muddy Waters, who moved from a rural community without electricity to a major city, what do you think a new instrument like the electric guitar might have represented? (Encourage students to consider how an electric guitar might be a symbol of wealth and sophistication to a person who grew up poor and without electricity.)

5. In preparation for the Advertising in the Early 1950s Gallery Walk activity, display slides 3-11 each as a separate station throughout the classroom. Break your students into small groups, and have each group name a "scribe" who will take notes. Instruct the groups to walk the gallery, spending roughly a minute at each advertisement.

SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES

GOING ELECTRIC: HOW ELECTRICITY HELPED BRING THE GUITAR TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC

PROCEDURE: (CONTINUED)

Have the scribe record the group's notes using the following questions at each station:

? W hat adjectives do you see used to describe this product?

? W hat does this advertisement suggest this product could do for you?

? W hat is the purpose of this product? ? Is this a completely new product, or an older

product that has somehow been updated?

? D oes this advertisement feature any references to something other than the product itself?

? D oes this advertisement seem similar to any of the other advertisements you've seen today?

? A dd any other notes about this advertisement that stand out to you.

6. Have students return to their seats. Then discuss their notes from the Gallery Walk as a class and ask:

? D o you notice any recurring themes in these advertisements? What are they, and what do they seem to suggest about the products in general?

? In what ways is the advertising for Fender instruments similar to the advertisements for the other, non-musical items?

? D o you get any general feelings of what, in the broadest sense, these advertisements are suggesting about the mood of the time period?

? W hat do you think a Telecaster might have represented to a suburban teenager?

? H aving seen these advertisements, what do you think a Fender Telecaster might have represented to a migrant musician such as Muddy Waters?

7. Tell your students that in the years following the release of the Telecaster, guitarists and manufacturers created other ways to change the tone of the instrument. Have students return to their groups and open the Soundbreaking Guitar Effects TechTool. Allow students a short time to experiment with the TechTool and the three guitar effects it simulates. Then ask the class:

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