The First Electric Guitar Solos 

I don’t think you can talk about early electric guitar greats without talking about Sister Rosetta Tharpe. So so so good

This channel could really use a 20 minute deep dive on Muddy, his life, and his enormous impact on rock. The catalogye is frankly incomplete without one

Thanks to @polyphonic for asking me to score this, this series is a blast to work on ☺️ hope y’all like it! I’m using EVERY guitar I own on it, lol

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to talk about all the early great guitarists in this video. Who are some of your favorite electric guitar pioneers?

Muddy Waters was Elvis before Elvis in a sense. It’s all in the presence, and he’s just that bluesman, the Hoochie Coochie Man. Elmore James was also a pioneer of electric guitar, his rendition of Dust My Broom makes me think what Robert Johnson would have sounded like with an 🎸

Henry Diltz would be an amazing character to do an essay on. He’s the photographer responsible for the photography done of Hendrix at Woodstock and has photographed dozens of iconic groups in a very personal way. He’s also wide open to collaboration

I really do love your channel, but we've got a couple errors/misunderstandings worth mentioning... On Charlie Christian: 1) While "Solo Flight" was recorded in 1941, not 1944, Charlie's impact on the national scene was felt as soon as he joined Benny Goodman in the fall of 1939 and was featured on live radio broadcasts, with "Flying Home" (likely a Charlie Christian composition despite not being credited) being so popular it had to be repeated on the radio just three weeks after it's first broadcast, a month before it would be recorded in the studio. 2) Also, it's worth mentioning that Charlie joined Benny's "Sextet", not the full orchestra. Benny had used his "small groups" to feature black musicians Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton starting in 1935, with the BG Trio and Quartet at time when they wouldn't have been able to join the orchestra. And by 1941 Benny did have black musicians playing full time in the orchestra, Charlie was still only playing with the sextet, and then joining the orchestra for his feature piece, Solo Flight. But of course, it was a big deal to have a feature piece with the orchestra. 3) Charlie's national career only lasted from August 1939 until July 1941, after which Charlie took ill with tuberculosis, and died in Feb 1942. 4) So many historians only talk about the "proto-bebop" part of Charlie's playing and celebrating the way it influenced and foreshadowed bebop, but that completely ignores how great the "Swing" part of his playing was. And it was that part of Charlie's playing that influenced people like Chuck Berry and B.B. King, among many others. There's a ton of vocabulary in Charlie's playing that is straight up rock and rock as early his first recordings in 1939. Eddie Durham was a notable arranger, trombone player and guitarist with Jimmie Lunceford and was famous before well joining Basie. Since the early 1930's he'd been trying to find ways to "amplify" the guitar, such as by using resonator guitars and playing directly into microphones - his amplified acoustic guitar solo break on 1934's "Avalon" with Lunceford was something that Charlie Christian quoted verbatim on "Gilly" in 1940. He was a mentor and influence to Charlie before he made the switch to the magnetic pickup "electric guitar" as we think of it. Finally, it's also worth noting that jazz, blues, and country musics were all far more intermingled that we think of now. George Barnes was swinging jazz musician who happened to be playing with Broonzy. All of the early electric players in Western bands were influenced by Charlie Christian, and there's no doubt that while living in Oklahoma City, Charlie was also influenced by Western musicians like Leon McAuliffe. In fact, it's kind of important to mention that T-Bone Walker (who was recording electric blues records before Muddy Waters) was a buddy of Charlie's, and they would perform together on the street in Oklahoma City. For a fascinating history on the separation of "the Blues" into a distinct genre (by white record producers only wanting to record that one part of their black artist's repertoire) check out the "History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs" podcast episode on Cream's "Crossroads". The people we think of as "Delta Blues" musicians would have been playing a much wider variety of genres than what was documented, including ragtime, country music, and other popular song. And two of the dumbest and smallest nitpicks... "Sunburst" finish, not "starburst". And it's that specific 1st generation bar pickup that's widely known as the "Charlie Christian pickup", not the guitar model. Charlie played the ES-150, and also the nicer, bigger version, the ES-250 (both in Sunburst and Blonde).

Good video, but should definitely have talked about T-Bone Walker, probably the most important electric blues guitarist. "Stormy Monday" is one of the greatest blues songs ever.

Charlie Christian was incredible. Shame there’s not too many recordings of him playing.

Young people, if you want to see the full Jimi Hendrix performance (along with the rest of woodstock) I recommend Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music. I have the special edition bluray with my Mego jimi hendrix next to it.

I'm glad lightnin Hopkins had His image here, but i hope you talk about him someday. he's a pillar of rock and roll history but hes totally forgotten, his music still feels cutting edge and raw to me, i played it for students and they thought it was 10-20 years old.

The first really good extended electric guitar solos we have are the ones Charlie Christian did in small-group jazz settings at Minton's Playhouse and Clark Monroes in Harlem, NYC in 1941. Freed from the restrictions of the swing orchestra and the limited solo time we get minutes of extended guitar work that begins to bridge the swing sound with the post-war bebop sound. It's incredibly invaluable stuff as both the war and the musicians strike of the early '40s meant almost nothing of the development of bebop jazz or modern guitar evolution was recorded during this period.

How utterly appropriate to begin this vid with Jimi's StarSpangledBanner! Born/raised in Cali, I didn't make it to Woodstock (NY), BUT did see Hendrix's Experience play a very long version of same song at the helLA Forum in '69... That performance changed the trajectory of my life, right on the cusp of teenhood! Thanx for this, as usual, exceptional vid!

Love your videos man, thanks for all the work you and all the collaborators put into it

Bravo man. You tell a great story. Your visuals are tremendous. All the success in the world to you!

Man oh MAN you setup that outro solo so well, wanted it to continue and play the whole song.

Great video. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks.

Very excited for this series! Thank you.

Very interesting! Looking forward to the next episode! Great job

Truly elite craftsmanship and narrative thrust, Polyphonic. AS GOOD AS MUSIC ANALYSIS GETS. Thanks so much!

This is such an awesome video. I can't wait to see the rest of the series

awesome! can't wait for the rest in the series!!

This is a killer video - I learned so much despite already knowing a fair bit on the topic!! Can’t wait for the rest of the series

I went onto Nebula and watched the first two parts of this series... this is awesome man! I can't wait for the remaining parts. As someone who really enjoys guitar solos, I'm really glad to see not just a video like this, but the fact that it's gonna be a full series. I'm gonna show this to some of my friends and family, hopefully they'll be as impressed as me! Great job with this one!

Genius topic idea, amazing visual work as always. Bravo!

I love the bit where he talks at length about Charlie Christian playing the ES-150, while showing a photo of Christian holding an ES-250. The next photo also shows Christian with another ES-250. I also love how he later talks about how Muddy Waters bought an electric guitar in 1944, playing it on 1948’s “I can’t be satisfied”, while showing a photo of Muddy playing a Telecaster - a guitar that didn’t exist until the 1950s.

So excited for this series! Thank you....

been waiting for a polyphonic post!!!

Just finished watching both new episodes on Nebula. Almost want to wait for all six parts first! I'll be on tenterhooks until then 😋 Top tier quality content, as always. Keep up the good work guys!

Fantastic work mate. Loved that 🎸 🙏

Well you officially sold me on nebula and I just signed up for the yearly plan. Thank you very much for this fantastic content. Can’t wait to watch the rest

You have such a brilliant channel sir

this is a wonderful video !

Man,your content is so good that i really wanted to subtitle to portuguese just to other brazilians ( european portuguese is a different stuff) could watch as i do. Is by far the best channel about music in the RU-vid. Mojo doesnt do a quarter you show with all the reach and money they have.

Wonderful work 😃 always a joy to watch and learn more about an art form I'm so fond of. Thank you sharing with us. Till next time

This is an incredible series, THANK YOU for highlighting some of the great great guitarist that have been forgotten to time by a majority of history.

The first guitar solo I know of is Robert Johnson’s “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” (1936).

I've been watching this on nebula. Fantastic, and I can't wait for the rest of the series

Incredible! Your videos are always of such a high quality and also carry an important message. It's also great to see that you're not being to nostalgic and that you include modern musicians - in this case Mdou Moctar. It would be incredible to hear your thoughts on the "saharan rock" phenomenon, I think it's one of the most exciting forms of rock music right now.

Awesome video!

every new video make me more of your your content, aesthetic and way to storytelling!

11:27am: oh, this is going to be so good 11:45: Damn that was so good!

So glad you highlighted Bob Will and the Texas Playboys. Their music deserves more attention and wider appreciation. T-Bone Walker is another pioneer of the electric guitar solo that every guitarist should be familiar with.

This makes me wonder, what were the first acoustic guitar solos? (In terms of our modern understanding of a "solo") Those early 20th century blues and country records probably have some of the first recorded examples...

The sign of a good music doc is when it makes you wanna grab your instrument and start playing.

Really excited about this series! Thank You. Hope you will include Jerry Garcia and Michael Houser. Will also be super cool if you are able to cover or touch on other genres of music in upcoming episodes.

Great video! ✌

I'm at work, and already gave a 👍to this video. I know it's gonna be good as the rest of your work! I'll watch later. Thank you!!

I'm pretty excited for this series tbh

Love Junior Barnard getting mentioned! His playing on ‘Fat Boy Rag’ from the 1947 Tiffany Transcriptions is unreal! Genuine Rock & Roll at least 10 years before it was even a thing!

As a guitar player for 25 years, i can't explain to you the power you feel as a teenager the first time you get a few chords sounding decent and blast them out through an overdriven amp.

Excellent work here. In guitar solos, story telling, and editing...thanx.

This was such a great episode again...

Finally you’re back

The version of "Walking The Floor Over You" used at 8:34 on this video is actually NOT the original one, but rather a re-recording by Tubb together with his long-time electric guitarist Billy Byrd and Buddy Emmons on steel guitar, as well as other Nashville session players. The original 1941 one (with Smitty Smith on electric) is much more "essential" in terms of instrumentation and includes an extra verse: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FK7HhBZ7b5M.html

Great video.

Your videos on Music is still unmatched. Those Early guitarists are incredible. Dang RU-vid and their Censorship.

happy septemba!

Thank you for recognizing the early country western/swing guitar influences.

After all these years of selling big band transcriptions, Solo Flight (it's in the public domain!) is hands down my number one best selling chart. Guitarists around the world all want to play this tune because it's both the ONLY early big band guitar feature AND it's a great composition and arrangement AND Christian's style is so special and colorful that many players feel great just playing his original solo as is.

Lonnie Johnson, allegedly the first to use the guitar as a lead and solo instrument back in the 10's and the one person to credit for introducing the world to bended notes and hammer ons, did take his playing to semi-acoustic guitars in the early 30s if I am not mistaken. It would be wrong to omit the father of the modern guitar, I think.

So glad you included Tinariwen, theyre such an underrated group

Can someone please tell me who did the version of All Along The Watchtower under the Hendrix introduction? Sounds amazing

YASSSSS! POLYPHONIC IS BACK!!!

THis video made me subscribe to nebula. Can't have the video without the music.

4:20 my god my ears have been blessed with the intro of it

Thank you.

6:36 - favoring the cherry and strawberry, did he also only indulge the orange and yellow once the best were finished?

please where is that riff that stars playing at 1:35 from ! please answer FAST

Signed up to Nebula finally. Shame the second vid isn't up but this one was great, looking forward to the series. Any other series worth the rewatch on there for extra content clipped from the youtube versions?

I would love a video on bob wills

No mention of Elmore James? Or T Bone Walker? Songs like The Sky is Crying, Dust My Broom, Call it Stormy Monday, and T Bone Shuffle would go on to inspire rock and roll being converted by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman and more!

I'm planning on building a basitar soon and hopefully from there learning bass and guitar proper later on I don't think I'll be as good as any of the people mentioned in this video but hopefully I'll have some fun at the very least

It's insane that Les Paul isn't mentioned in these episodes. Especially with all of his guitar innovations. He also played an incredible, lengthy guitar solo on a #1 hit with Bing Crosby in 1945.

Chuck Berry is easily my favorite guitarist from the 50's.

Sadly you've passed by Memphis Minnie's "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" (1941) which features her singing and playing electric guitar (including a solo); surely a prime early example from a blues artist.

"Woodstock" did not "spontaneously erupt". And his breakthrough was at "Monterey Pop" in 1967.

what is the background solo of you video? more specifically on that part where you introduce jimi Hendrix .can anyone please tell the name of the music or song whatever.

Good vid

1:36 to skip the extremely long commercial.

There is a very good mix of Charlie Christian solos on the Save Your Face blog!

u give RESPECT ! 👋

May he rest in peace

Excellent video! wich is the song at 13:00?

Good show

🤘 Long live rock n roll!

hey so idk if its on your end or my end but i actually tried watching this over at nebula first, but the video only plays the first handful of seconds and has zero sound so it doesnt work and i came here. im hoping whatever the issue is it gets resolved so i can watch it over there too

You talk about Delta blues guitarists and show footage of Lightnin' Hopkins?

Somewhere in my soul, there's always rock and, roll

While it's not anywhere near one of the first, my favorite solo of all time is still an early one: Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock

I realize you had to keep it somewhat brief but... leaving out the Godmother of Rock, Sister Rosetta Tharpe? I must admit some very mild disappointment there... ETA: Actually, maybe an entire video on the debate over whether or not she could be considered the true progenitor of Rock and Roll would be good. I personally feel like, at the *very* least, she plays an incredibly important role.

Which part will have Nigel Tufnel?

Why do the solos have to be cut shorter on RU-vid vs nebula?

What is the song at 2:20 ?

1:55 Woodstock wasn't free. There were tickets. Some people knocked the fences down early on, but you were supposed to have a ticket.

@8:16 “He was number one!”

I’m reeeeally hoping the name T-Bone Walker gets said. I love Muddy, and in many ways connect with his stuff more. But T-Bone invented the guitar solo as we know it.

whats the song starting at 1:37 ?

this not the info that i recall where di you get your research?

Saw Muddy Waters in 1979 or 80 in Houston at Clapton concert. At the time, I had heard his name but didn't recognize him. Just saw a bunch of old black dudes playing slow draggy melancholy blues. Found out years later that was him Clapton was so effed up he could hardly stand. And he played the same stuff. After a half hour or so if that we left. And we weren't alone. No Cocaine or Lay Down Sally or Wonderful Tonight or Layla.