The Guitars That Shaped The Best Selling Albums Of All Time

By editorial board on December 22, 2021

Throughout the decades, the sound of guitar music has evolved. Each decade a number of guitarists have had a huge amount of influence on the direction of music.

Excerpt from Authorityguitar.com - To read the full article click here.

 

 

Here are some of the guitars that shaped the best selling albums by decade:

1950s

The most popular guitars at the beginning of the 50s were heavy, hollow-bodied, and resembled a cello. The tone was clean with a distinctive bright echo. The slapback echo rhythm was prevalent in this era. The sound would bounce and slap off the recording studio walls. This unique characteristic we now recognize as the rockabilly sound.

Bill Haley & The Comets, “Rock Around The Clock”, 1955

The highest selling single of the 50s was ‘Rock Around The Clock’ (40 million copies sold worldwide). Bill Haley’s guitars around 1955 were the Gibson L7-C and the Gibson Super 400. Danny Cedrone, Haley’s guitarist, used a Gibson ES-300 on the record.

Scotty Moore was Elvis Presley’s main man between 1954-1968. Some say he was the one who invented the power chord. A Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer. Keith Richards once said: “When I heard Heartbreak Hotel, I knew what I wanted to do in life. All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like the way Scotty Moore did. Everyone wanted to be Elvis, I wanted to be Scotty”

Moore used his Gibson Super 400 CES around the 1957 period to record ‘Jailhouse Rock’ (4 million records in the US & UK)

1960s

The 1960s were by far the most creative and influential.

Surf music was born in the early 60s with Dick Dale, The Del-Tones, and of course The Beach Boys leading the way. Californian made Fender guitars took over the surf scene. The clear slap back echo from the 50s wasn’t as dominant now, it was all about the spring reverb. Around the early 1960 Fender Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and Stratocaster was the guitar of choice. Oh, and The Beatles arrived!.

The Beatles “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, 1967

In 1964 the music scene was completely dominated by The Beatles. In 1967 the highest selling album was ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (30 million copies sold worldwide).

George, John, and Paul, all used an Epiphone Casino for most of the album. The Epiphone Casino has a completely hollow body and would tend to feedback very easily. Feedback was an experimental sound around this time, it was soon to become an ingredient of the late 60s.

Epiphone Casino
Lennon's Gibson J 160

It’s also worth mentioning, those vintage acoustic tones on the album were made by Gibson J160 Guitars. I can hear them now on the intro to ‘A Day in the Life’. George and John used the Gibson J160s throughout The Beatles.

 

 

 

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Are You Experienced”, 1967

It’s difficult to write any guitar article without mentioning this man. In 1967, Jimi Hendrix released ‘Are You Experienced?’. I think it’s safe to say he changed the direction of the electric guitar forever. Jimi exploded onto the scene with his right-handed guitar strung upside down. He created a dive-bombing wave of feedback, screaming over the heads of his audience like a fighter jet. Jimi was an exciting guitarist to watch live, but in the studio, he crafted a beautiful rhythmic style. This kind of guitar playing had never been witnessed before.

Jimi brought a whole new methodology to the art of playing the electric guitar. Hendrix would stretch his thumb over the top of the neck barring the bass notes, this would free up his fingers to do much more with a basic bar chord. He used experimental chord shapes, his use of the whammy bar was mind blowing, he later added the wah wah.

The Olympic White 1968 Fender Stratocaster was Jimi’s most famous guitar. Known as ‘The Woodstock Strat’. Hendrix and Eric Clapton certainly helped to make the Fender Stratocaster the most famous guitar ever.

Excerpt from Authorityguitar.com  To read the full article click here.

 

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