The guitar is inextricably linked to the development of blues music over the last 120 years. Since its beginning around 1890 and maturation 20 years later around 1910, the blues were characterized by powerful vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar. Guitar is the original accompaniment in blues and it dominated the music of the blues for the first decade of the genre’s development. Steadily, blues came to include accompaniment by pianos, harmonicas and even saxophones but the guitar still defined the sound of blues.
The guitar was influential in early blues songs but blues also exercised a certain power over the development of the guitar in America. New styles of playing the guitar were popularized through blues music with the development of both finger picking blues and slide guitar originating with blues guitarists.
Finger picking guitar was developed in the Southeastern United States as part of the Piedmont blues. This finger picking style is ultimately influenced by ragtime piano tunes and is characterized by the guitarist using his or her thumb on the bass string to produce a rhythm while his or her forefinger plays the treble strings to produce a melody. Piedmont blues guitarists like Blind Boy Fuller and Josh White popularized the finger picking style and influenced countless guitarists outside of blues including Paul Simon and Mark Knopfler.
From 1890 to 1940, acoustic guitar and the aforementioned acoustic guitar innovations defined the instrumental-ism of blues but the period following World War II changed blues music forever and did so using new types of guitars. Specifically, the post-World War II period in blues was characterized by the use of bass, double bass and electric guitars in a number of regional blues styles. Slide guitar and finger picking Piedmont blues continued to develop in this new era in blues guitar as did other pre-war blues styles but new electric styles of Chicago blues, Memphis blues and Texas blues defined how many Americans understood blues music.
Blues electric guitar and bass styles were pioneered and perfected by blues guitarists like John Lee Hooker and Stevie Ray Vaughn and the influence of American electric blues sparked a vibrant blues movement in England during the 1960s that included blues guitarists like Eric Clapton. The electric blues are also notable in guitar history for influencing the development of American rock ‘n’ roll. While recording for Sun Records in Memphis, much of Elvis Presley’s style was influenced by the work of the label’s blues guitarists including B.B. King.
Although acoustic and electric blues guitar both have a rich history as part of the blues genre, they are also notable for their influence on the development of modern music and especially their influence on the formative years of American rock ‘n’ roll. Styles like slide guitar and Piedmont blues finger picking that were pioneered in the early decades of the 20th century are still prominent in modern guitar. With its 120-year history, blues guitar is a vibrant genre of its own that offers something to every guitarist whether they play acoustic, electric or bass guitar and no matter what their primary genre of interest is.
