tpo30-l4

does the professor mainly discuss?#

Musical genres that feature the electric guitar.#

Technological advances that made electric guitar possible.#

The popularity of rock-roll music.#

The evolution of the electric guitar.#

does

the

professor

say

about

the

sailors

who

were

stationed

in

Hawaii

after

the

Spanish-American War?#

They helped popularize steel guitar music among the people of Hawaii.#

They were among the first to play the steel guitar in musical groups.#

They introduced the steel guitar to the mainland United States.#

They altered the second of the steel guitar by redesigning its slide.#

does the professor mention that the steel guitar was played horizontally?#

To show how it influenced musical styles such as jazz and blues.#

To explain one way of distorting the sound of a guitar.#

To emphasize the versatility of acoustic guitars.#

To explain the need to amplify the sound of acoustic guitars.#

distinguished Les Paul's guitar from electric guitars that preceded it?#

It had a solid body.#

It was played with a sliding steel rod.#

It relied on distortion to create special effects.#

It projected sound toward the audience rather than the ceiling.#

can be inferred about the woman who mentioned Jimi Hendrix?#

She previously did not understand the significance of Les Paul's contribution to the development

of electric guitar.#

She enjoys listening to music played on an electric guitar more than the professor does.#

She prefers listening to electric guitar music that is played with no distortion or special effects.#

She is convinced that Hendrix's style was influenced by Les Paul's guitar design.#

does

the

professor

mean

when

he

states

that

Jimi

Hendrix's

reinvented

the

electric

guitar?#

Hendrix simplified the guitar design to make it easier to play.#

Hendrix discovered and corrected defects in previous guitar designs.#

Hendrix redesigned the guitar to make it louder.#

Hendrix manipulated the guitar to create a distinctive sound.

======

Professor=

And what instrument comes to mind when you think of rock

‘

n' roll?

#

Student=

The electric Guitar?

#

Professor=

Exactly.

I

think

it's

fair

to

say

that

the

sound

of

the

electric

guitar

typifies

the

rock

‘

n'

roll

genre,which became popular in the 1950s. But really the instrument we know today was the result

of a continuing development that started for our practical purposes in the 1920s. But long before

that

even,people

were

experimenting

with

ways

to

modify

traditional

acoustic

guitars.

The

first

guitars were wooden. This is the Spanish guitar and the strings were made from animal products.

Then came steel strings. And that led to the lap guitar,which is also called the steel guitar because

the player slides a steel rod up and down the neck. And those are all acoustic guitars. OK? But

then eventually we have electric guitars. Over the years,many inventors and musicians contributed

to the design of these instruments. And each design was intended to alter the sound in some way,at

first at least with the electric guitar,to make it let's get back to when the steel guitar was

first introduced in the United States. It was right after the Spanish- American war in the late 1890s.

US

sailors

who

were

stationed

in

Hawaii

—

then

a

US

territory

—

were

very

enamored

with

the

music they heard there. Uh,Hawaiian music was based on the steel guitar I just described. Some

sailors

learned

how

to

play

the

steel

guitar

and

brought

it

home

to

the

States.

Before

long,Hawaiian steel guitar music was all the rage

in the mainland US. It actually had a

strong

influence on the development of several musical genres,rock

‘

n' roll most notably,but also jazz

and

blues.

Anyway,by

the

1920s,with

the

advent

of

the

public

dance

movement,people

were

gathering in large groups to listen to steel guitar music. But they had trouble hearing it,especially

in large public settings. As I mentioned,the instrument was played horizontally,on the lap. Since

the strings faced upward,the sound was projected toward the ceiling rather than outward toward

the audience. Something had to be done,because the music venues and the audience kept getting

larger and larger. So what would you do?

#

Student=

Find a way to amplify the sound?

#

Professor=

Yes. And

to

do

that,inventors

started

attaching

electronic

devices,electrical

coils

to

the

acoustic

guitars.

And

the

electronics

worked!

But

attaching

electronics

didn't

just

affect

how

loudly

you

could play. It also changed the quality of the sound. These early electric guitars were hollow and

these

early

amplifiers

caused

vibrations

in

the

bodies

of

the

instruments.

So

as

the

sound

got

louder,it

became

more

distorted,fuzzy-sounding.

And

what

musicians

at

the

time

wanted

was

a

pure,clean sound.

#

Student=

So where does Les Paul fit in? Wasn't he the first to electrify acoustic guitars?

#

Professor=

Uh

?

no.

Electrified

guitars

already

existed

by

the

time

Les

Paul

came

into

the

picture

around

1940. What Paul did was experiment with ways of removing the distortions and he succeeded. He

designed a guitar with a solid body that relied solely on electronics. Paul's solid body eliminated

the vibrations,and thus the distortions.

#

Student=

Excuse me. But when I think of electric guitar music,I think of Jimi Hendrix.

#

Professor=