Question

Using the weekly assignments and summaries, how would you best describe or characterize the impact of the guitar upon:

(1) Flamenco (Spain)

(2) Celtic Music (British Isles and the U.S.)

(3) Blues (North America)

(4) Jazz (North America)

(5) Rock (North America)

Essays should consist of a(n):

INTRODUCTION: One paragraph with a thesis in BOLD (i.e., The guitar has had a significant impact upon the music cultures of Spain, the British Isles, and North America?

Answer 1

The guitar is one of the world's most evocative instruments. The repertoire includes music as varied as heavy metal, blues, indie, flamenco, and western art, as well as classical Indian music, Papua New Guinea village music, and Brazilian carnival. This cross-cultural prominence makes social interaction and cultural identity a specific starting point for comprehension. Guitar music can be romantic, relaxing, melancholy or manic, but it almost always brings people together and creates common ground, even though this common ground is also a place of intense social , cultural , economic and political negotiation and rivalry.

Flamenco is a musical genre from Spain. A diverse musical and cultural practise is represented by Flamenco. Though considered part of Spain's culture in general, flamenco only comes from one region, Andalusia. Other areas, especially Extremadura and Murcia, have, however, contributed to the creation of many types of flamenco music, and a large number of renowned flamenco artists have been born in other parts of the state. Flamenco 's origins are not precisely established, but it is widely accepted that flamenco emerged from the specific interplay of the native Andalusian, Islamic, Sephardic, and Gypsy communities that existed before and after the Reconquest of Andalusia. In order to shape many flamenco musical styles, Latin American and particularly Cuban influences were also significant.

The new millennium begins with the flamenco guitar
Flamenco has been able to evolve, survive, and adapt to changing conditions over the course of its meteoric trajectory in the last century and a half.

The technical vocabulary codified by innovators such as Paco de Lucia enriched, still constitutes the essence of the style, and guitarists continue to function largely within the early twentieth century uniform inherited d cantes. Even the latest eclectic excursions into different pop styles can be seen as perpetuating the practise of engaging with contemporary vernacular idioms, whether folk fandangos, Cuban peasant music, or disco, developed since the origins of flamenco.

In their struggle with contemporary Western pop culture, with its common denominator appeal and its strong international support, many traditional music styles worldwide have done poorly. In recent years, the accelerated globalisation processes have increased both the challenges and the new possibilities for "peripheral" music linked to unique ethnic, geographic, or linguistic audiences. Flamenco lovers and world music in general will find a great deal of fulfilment in the way that flamenco is Instead of being swamped by these innovations, guitarists have rode the crest of musical globalisation, bringing their art in thrilling new directions at once while retaining their conventional coherence and dignity.

Celtic music is much older than modern guitar, forged by fiddle bows, pipe bellows, human breath moving over vocal chords and through flutes, all grounded by deep harp resonances, into our collective consciousness over millennia. And so the very meaning of Celtic music, and the unique sound colorations imparted by them, has become inextricably associated with those and other traditional instruments.

The guitar has been used as a melodic solo instrument for playing Celtic music only in the last few decades, and that evolution has happened hand-in - hand with the so-called "modern" sound that has begun to be characterised by many contemporary guitar makers. In a nutshell, the sound consists of a balance the tips toward the upper midrange, "fat" trebles, the whole frequency spectrum of clarity and emphasis, and an airy, complex tone.

Harp effect 'consists of never playing on the same string consecutive notes of a phrase, allowing each note to ring out much like a harp 's open strings. Obviously, the technique can be used on any guitar, but it is far more credible and "authentic" on a guitar that manages to preserve tone continuity between open and fretted notes, and offers smooth transitions between wound and unwound strings. Other techniques are aimed at imitating the pipes and flutes created by trills, which requires an unusual reactivity and clarity or else it sounds muddy.
Most Celtic guitarists, usually DADGAD or Orkney (CGDGCD), would use modified tunings to a great degree, both of which reduce the guitar 's stress, which affects both tone and playability. And thus it makes more sense to stick to a scale length with the normal range of 25 3/8 to 25 5/8.

Influence of guitar in North American Blues

Over time, many kinds of guitars have been added, especially the electric guitar that helped establish the blues as a genre. The Dobro or resonator guitar is one distinctive guitar used in the blues. These instruments are peculiar since the vibration of the string travels over the bridge to a resonator or several resonators, rather than bringing the sound through the soundboard (the top of the guitar). The use of resonators was introduced to enhance the guitar's sound, although this issue has since been solved by electric amplifiers, but the resonator guitar is still prized for its unique sound.

Robert Johnson is the impetus for many beginning blues guitarists. Legend has it that, at a crossroads where he exchanged his soul for the gift of music, he met the devil, and what a talented musician he was. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards said "Robert Johnson was all by himself like an orchestra."He introduced the music of Johnson to bandmate Brian Jones, who could hardly believe at first that there were not 2 guitars on the recording, only Johnson. BB King is another great guitarist that we can't go without mentioning. He is known as the most influential blues artist of all times, as a singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He left a legacy in the world of blues forever with his guitars.

Another musical form is hard to picture as connected to a single instrument as the blues to the guitar is. While blues music has always been an essentially vocal genre, not only for harmonic and rhythmic purposes, but also as a way to amplify and intensify the spirit of a specific song, talented musicians have used the guitar. In truth, most blues musicians are self-taught, and don't think too much about their instrument's "right" way of playing. This demonstrates the guitar's deep versatility, and enables each artist to develop a style based on their own personality and temperament.

While there are a variety of different styles of blues, there are a few features that all of them share. For most blues types, the 12-bar blues progression is popular, as is the three-line rhyming pattern AAB. As another traditional part of the genre, blues guitarists often "bend" unique notes, called "blue notes." Most blues music seems to be sad, focusing on the struggles.

blues music tends to be sad, reflecting on the difficulties of both the work environment and the private lives of the earliest blues masters

Jazz music and Guitar

Typically, the jazz rhythm guitar consists of very textured, odd-meter playing that usually requires several exotic and difficult-to-fret chords. It's common for a jazz rhythm guitarist to play a 2/5 beat interval in 4/4 time, such as on the 2, and then the half beat, or 'and,' after 4. The rhythm guitar can also play chords 'ahead' of the beat in jazz. This is done by playing an eighth note swung by the chord before the actual change of chord. However, unlike rock, chords are typically not played in a repetitive rhythmic fashion.

Using a variety of different chords and their understanding of harmony and jazz theory, rhythm guitarists build "voicings" of jazz chords in a jazz band, which emphasise the chord 's 3rd and 7th notes. In the jazz-style blues progression, which is particularly common, jazz guitarists must learn to play these chords over a wide variety of chord progressions used in jazz, including the ii-V-I progression.

particular, because of its ability to act as both an ensemble and a solo instrument, the guitar is an fascinating example. Perhaps the most poignant comment was made by guitarist George Van Eps, noting that the guitar is an orchestra inside
Surprisingly, very little has been written about the guitar's role in the development of jazz itself. Most guitarist documents can be found in jazz magazines or scattered references such as down beat and Guitar Player.

It is easier to discuss the important players during the different jazz times while analysing the development of the jazz guitar style. Chicago, Swing, Kansas City, Hip, Bebop and Fusion are widely accepted for these times.

Such periods are more stylistic periods and are thus not time-frame exclusive. For instance, it is common to show up in Bebop period songs for Cool period ideas, since these two styles overlapped during the 1950's.

For their ability to synthesise other musical styles into their own game, jazz players were often recognised. Miles Davis' trumpeter in the late 1960s
By taking influence from the vast repertoire of rock music, and integrating it into jazz ideas, it was to alter the direction of jazz again. Bitches Brew, the resulting record, is said to be one of the cornerstones of the contemporary jazz movement. THE

The 1970's is referred to as the fusion movement. The word fusion comes from the fusion of rock and funk with jazz. Fusion has presented guitarists with a fantastic opportunity to come into the limelight and be heard. Guitar during this period,examination of the major innovators during these stylistic periods, it is possible to form an acceptable idea of jazz-style guitar evolution.
In several bands, it has become the main instrument.
Many guitarists became bandleaders and became famous with their bands. In down beat polls, some of these guitarists will also be named most influential. One guitarist, however, found himself consistently at the top.
This was the man who helped Miles Davis launch it all. It was about John McLaughlin.

Usually, the guitar has lagged slightly behind other jazz instruments.This can often be due to exacting bandleaders who just liked their Guitarists are unplugged and on the beat to play. It was only through the efforts of several key guitarists that the instrument 's maximum melodic and harmonic abilities could be established. There were, of course, a lot of guitarists.But not all of those who contributed to the cause can be addressed. Instead, a realistic picture of the guitar 's growth could be painted by studying the most well-known guitarists of each era in the history of jazz.

Rock Steel Steel

Rock n 'roll is most likely to be the most popular guitar genre. And as such, in any rock album, there are a variety of different roles the guitar can perform.

Let 's start with the guitarist on the bass. The role this band member plays is to help the percussion section provide the rhythm of the album. A sort of "filling" effect is created by the bass guitar, and most recorded rock tracks sound incomplete without it. You even see a bass solo sometimes.

The rhythm guitar comes next, which gives the song a catchy rhythm utilising power chords. It might also be the duty of the rhythm guitarist to create riffs that could be repeated throughout the track. The rhythm guitar helps to add structure to the song and shapes, so to speak, the "skeleton."

The lead guitarist is responsible for performing the solos of the guitar, as well as shaping the riffs and "licks." They may even be responsible for improvisation or solos.

To build a melody that suited them, the lead guitar follows the chord and pattern altered given by the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums.Finally, there's a percussive guitar that just can only be played on an acoustic guitar. This method of playing uses the guitar itself, along with its usual play, as a percussion instrument. In this way, the guitarist will play the bass, rhythm, and lead parts at the same time using a single instrument.

Rock and rolling
It is definitely arguable that rock was the world's dominant form of popular music by the end of the 20th century. It spread to other English-speaking countries and throughout Europe in the 1960s, originating in the United States in the 1950s, and its influence was evident globally (if in several different local guises) by the '90s. By then, Rock's commercial significance was expressed in the structure of the global recording industry, in foreign record retailers' sales shelves, and in music radio and television playlist policies. If other kinds of music are sold as minority preferences, classical, jazz, easy listening, country, folk, etc., rock determines the musical mainstream. And so it became the most inclusive of musical labels over the last half of the 20th century. Everything can be "rocked" and thus the hardest to define. Responding to the question, What is rock? One must first understand where it started and what made it possible. And to under, to under to understand rock’s cultural significance, one has to understand how it works socially as well as musically.

A modern type of American popular music was personified in the mid-1950s by Elvis Presley, of Memphis , Tennessee. Rock and roll was a sound based on guitar with a solid (if loose) rhythm that drew on blues, church music, and country music equally on African American and white traditions from the southern United States. The rapid rise of Presley to national stardom exposed the new cultural and economic influence of albums, radio , television, and motion photographs of both teens and teen-aimed media.

In the 1960s, a new form of British popular music was personified by the Beatles, from Liverpool , England (via Hamburg , Germany). Merseybeat was a British take on the rock and roll black and white musical mix: local live versions of American hit records of all kinds were provided by a simple lineup of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and drums (with shared vocals). The Beatles applied to this a creative self-consciousness, soon writing their own compositions and creating their own rather than using the recording studio.

Rock is at once the mainstream of commercial music and a romantic art form, a voice from the social margins. Presley’s first album for RCA in 1956 was just as carefully packaged to present him as an authentic, street-credible musician (plucking an acoustic guitar on the album cover) as was Public Enemy’s classic It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, issued by the CBS-backed Def Jam in 1988; Madonna was every bit as concerned with revealing her artifice as art in the 1980s as Dylan was in the ’60s.