The invention of the electric guitar revolutionized rock and roll music almost from the start. Rock had evolved out of the rhythm and blues tradition by making the blues beat and the boogie-woogie pattern louder, faster and more aggressive. It changed the nature of the lyric from sad and bitter to easygoing and carefree. Although rock’s early pioneers were predominantly piano-playing singers like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, in the mid 1950s guitarists Chuck Berry (b. 1926), Bo Diddley (b. 1928), Buddy Holly (1936-1959), and Carl Perkins (1932-1998) became some of the leading personalities of the new style. Elvis Presley’s guitarist, Scotty Moore (b. 1931), also was a leading rock innovator, albeit behind the scenes with solos and riffs in some of the King’s best-known songs, like Jailhouse Rock and Hound Dog. Scotty Moore’s style became known as rockabilly because it combined elements of hillbilly and bluegrass music with rock and roll.

In the late 50s and early 60s, England became an important center for innovative music-making. English groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Yardbirds studied American musical styles and incorporated them into their own unique sound. The Beatles, for example, modeled themselves on the more popular American rock bands and guitarists, specifically Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. The Stones were much more influenced by rhythm and blues music, and even took their name from a Muddy Waters tune. Two guitarists with very different musical sensibilities helped to create the Stones sound: Mick Taylor (b.1949) and Keith Richards (b. 1943). Pete Townshend (b. 1945) from The Who revolutionized how the guitar was played by occasionally destroying his instrument after a concert and otherwise creating a theatrical aspect to his playing with windmill power chords and wild onstage jumps. Other English guitarists took a more sober approach to playing their instruments. Eric Clapton (b. 1945) steeped himself in the blues tradition and, while playing with the Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbrakers, cultivated a unique bluesman personality that mingled with his position as a so-called guitar hero. During his time with Cream, Clapton and other British guitarists like Jeff Beck (b. 1944) helped to define the UK Blues style. In America, west-coast guitarist Carlos Santana (b. 1947) successfully fused rock with elements of Afro-Cuban music.