INVENTS THE MODERN ELECTRIC GUITAR SOUND AND FOREVER CHANGES HOW WE ALL PLAY GUITAR
By DAVID SINCLAIR
SLOWHAND IN THE ’60s
I T IS DIFFICULT, in retrospect, to convey the impact that Eric Clapton had on the world of electric guitar playing in 1966. For one thing, Clapton himself has spent most of his career since 1970 in denial about his achievements in revolutionizing the sound and status of the instrument, and he has been only too happy to let the spotlight fall instead on those who followed in his footsteps, including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and too many others to count.
But even allowing for Clapton’s latter-day reticence, it takes a supreme effort of either memory or imagination to fully appreciate how different the state and sound of electric guitar playing was prior to the release of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton in 1966.
The prototype guitar heroes of the Fifties and early Sixties were either moody types such as Link Wray and Duane Eddy, or bands like the Ventures and, in the U.K., the Shadows, whose guitar star was the clean-cut Hank Marvin. What they shared was a guitar sound that seemed to have been recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Layers of echo and reverb were added to a precise plectrum and fingering style that placed the ability to conjure a haunting melody cloaked in a deep, twanging tone above all other considerations. Clear enunciation of individual notes played cleanly in tandem with a deft tremolo bar technique was central to the sound of records ranging from Wray’s “Rumble” to any number of Shadows hits, from “Apache” to “Man of Mystery.”
As the new wave of beat groups got into their stride, particularly in the U.K., guitarists became emboldened and started to take a more unfettered approach, often informed by the stylings of the original American blues guitarists. Brian Jones supplied a loud, super-aggressive slide guitar part to the front of the Rolling Stones’ “I Wanna Be Your Man.” Dave Davies offered a raw, runaway solo on the Kinks’ first hit, “You Really Got Me.” Pete Townshend introduced some startling feedback effects on the Who’s “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.” Jeff Beck layered experimental, Eastern-sounding, psychedelic so
