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The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar

The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar

The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar

Jan-Peter Herbst, University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman, Smith College, Massachusetts
November 2024
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
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9781009224437
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    The electric guitar is one of the most important musical instruments and cultural artifacts of the 20th and 21st centuries and enjoys popularity worldwide. Designed for students, this Companion explores electric guitar technology and performance, and the instrument's history and cultural impact. Chapters focused on the social significance of the electric guitar draw attention to the ways in which gender and race have shaped and been shaped by it, the ecology of electric guitar manufacturing, and the participation of electric guitarists in online communities. Contributions on electric guitar history stretch the chronology backwards in time and broaden our ideas of what belongs in that history, and those addressing musical style investigate the cultural value of virtuosity while providing material analysis of electric guitar technique. The Companion's final section considers the electric guitar's global circulation, particularly in Africa, the Afro-Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.

    • Provides a comprehensive introduction to the electric guitar with its music and culture
    • Fills gaps in current understanding of the history and cultural impact of the electric guitar, drawing on new research on the origins of the instrument and its impact in different parts of the world
    • Includes both state-of-the-art discussions of mainstream topics and novel themes in guitar studies

    Product details

    November 2024
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009224437
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Contributors
    • 1. Introduction Jan-Peter Herbst and Steve Waksman
    • Part I. History:
    • 2. The misunderstood history and prehistory of the electric guitar Matthew W. Hill
    • 3. The electric guitar's 'Golden Age' Steve Waksman
    • 4. The guitar hero in classic rock John Covach
    • Part II. Technology and Timbre:
    • 5. They don't make 'Em Like They Used To: Electric Guitar Design 1950–2022 Matt Brounley
    • 6. Even in the quietest moments: amplifying the electric guitar Kyle Devine
    • 7. Stompbox revolution: electric guitar pedals and tone Erik Broess
    • Part III. Musical Style and Technique:
    • 8. Technique vs. Virtuosity in the instrumental gesture: from classical to rock and from rock to contemporary creation Philippe Gonin
    • 9. The bass guitar in popular music Brian F. Wright
    • 10. Thumping, glitch, and butterfly tapping: innovations in guitar technique in the new millennium Alexander Paul Vallejo and Jan-Peter Herbst
    • 11. Rhythm changes: rhythm guitar from jazz to funk Kate Lewis
    • Part IV. The Electric Guitar in Society
    • 12. Trailblazers, self-creators, and provers: celebrating women in electric guitar Sue Foley
    • 13. Black women: race, gender, genre, and the electric guitar Mashadi Matabane
    • 14. Ecological entanglements: following the electric guitar from factory to forest Chris Gibson and Andrew Warren
    • 15. Electro-collectives: Virtual guitar communities Daniel Lee
    • Part V. The Global Instrument:
    • 16. African electrical networks Nathaniel Braddock
    • 17. Rhythm, rasta, rock, & 'Electric Avenue': the electric guitar in Anglo-Caribbean popular music Mike Alleyne
    • 18. The electric guitar in Southeast Asia: a serpentine path Rebekah E. Moore
    • Index.
      Contributors
    • Jan-Peter Herbst, Steve Waksman, Mike Astley-Brown, Matthew W. Hill, John Covach, Ulrich Teuffel, Matt Brounley, Kyle Devine, Erik Broess, Samantha Bennett, Philippe Gonin, Brian F. Wright, Alexander Paul Vallejo, Kate Lewis, Pamela Cole, Sue Foley, Mashadi Matabane, Chris Gibson, Andrew Warren, Daniel Lee, Azmyl Yunor, Nathaniel Braddock, Mike Alleyne, Rebekah E. Moore

    • Editors
    • Jan-Peter Herbst , University of Huddersfield

      Jan-Peter Herbst is Reader (Associate Professor) in Music Production at the University of Huddersfield. His background as a rock guitarist has led him to specialize in the study of electric guitar playing and rock and metal music production. Herbst has also edited The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music (2023).

    • Steve Waksman , Smith College, Massachusetts

      Steve Waksman is Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor at Smith College. He is the author of Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience (1999), This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk (2009), and Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé (2022).